AGENDA 2021: Righting the wrongs

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 17

Punjab State Information Commissioner Maninder Singh Patti is peeved over the fact that as many as 30 per cent activists filing applications with the commission do not come with clean hands.

Patti, who belongs to the 1977 batch of Sainik School, Kapurthala, and became RTI Commissioner in October last year, says his agenda in his three-year tenure with the Information Commission will be to screen such elements, who try to seek information from various departments just with an agenda to blackmail the officials. “They are not using RTI for a genuine reason but have been found to be simply using it as a tool to extract money from the officials. With more of such seemingly factual complaints coming to us from the departments, we are now wary of intentions of such people and try not to entertain such elements,” explained the official.

Sharing his journey to the commission, Patti said his father Kashmir Singh Patti, who was the chairman of the Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission, always wanted him to acquire a good school education. “In those days, we had only two choices – Sainik School, Kapurthala and PPS, Nabha. I preferred the first one. The lifestyle and discipline that I learnt at my school has always helped me throughout my career. In fact, I owe everything that I am today to my schooling,” he was all praise for his alma matar.

Patti said he made a point to attend all alumni meets that his school organised. “I am also a part of the WhatsApp group of school pass-outs. We are all in touch and we keep on planning our meets and doing something for the school,” he said.

The RTI Commissioner said he studied law from Punjabi University Patiala. “I completed my BA-LLB in 1993 after which I even joined the office of senior advocate and former Advocate General Punjab HS Mattewal.” The official has also served as the Assistant Advocate General, Punjab, from 200-07, as Commissioner in the Right to Service Commission in 2016 and as chairman of Punjab GENCO Ltd till it got abolished last year.

Asked about the most impactful judgment he has delivered so far, he said, “It certainly was regarding declaration of Thapar University as the public authority and thus making its officials answerable to all queries being put up by the various stakeholders. “Our observation was that the university was established by the then Pepsu Government in 1955. Besides funds, land was provided by the erstwhile Pepsu Government free of cost. The state government and the University Grants Commission (UGC) also gave grants to the institution and hence it could not escape its liability to reply to the various appellants.”

His most impactful decision so far

It certainly was regarding declaration of Thapar University as the public authority and thus making its officials answerable to all queries being put up by various stakeholders. “Our observation was that the university was established by the then Pepsu Government in 1955. Besides funds, the land was provided by the erstwhile Pepsu Government for free. The state government and the University Grants Commission (UGC) also gave grants to the institution and hence it could not escape its liability to reply to various appellants,” says Punjab State Information Commissioner Maninder Singh Patti (pic).

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