Retired BSF man gets RTI reply in Hindi, lodges complaint 

TENKASI: A retired Border Security Force (BSF) personnel who got an RTI reply in Hindi has lodged a grievance with the BSF headquarters in New Delhi and sought the reply in English. S Vijay Kumar had sought some information from different union ministries through RTI Act, for a court case.

“Based on my petition filed against the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to scrap 5% reservation for Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel in the selection of police constables, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on August 12 directed the government to consider my demand in four weeks. I am waiting for the response from the State government. 

At the same time, I am collecting additional information from various ministries of the Union government, so that I can approach the court again if I get an unfavourable response from the State. Against this backdrop, the central public information officer (CPIO), FHQ, New Delhi, gave me a single-page reply in Hindi, which is not going to help me in any way as none of my villagers including me reads the north Indian language. The CPIO’s act is against the provisions of The Official Languages Act,” he said.

Kumar added that he sought a bunch of information through one hundred queries. “This information is crucial for me and several other people who resigned their CAPF job, hoping to join the Tamil Nadu police through the 5% reservation. In 2012, the Union government through an office memorandum recommended that the states may extend suitable benefits which are offered to ex-serviceman to CAPF personnel also. However, the Tamil Nadu government scrapped the existing reservation which benefitted CAPF personnel,” he said.