[Pypeassesty]

State chief information commissioner (SCIC) K.S.Sripathi, a former chief secretary, has come under the scanner for availing a Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) flat in Nerkundram.

Activists have appealed to the governor to take action against Mr Sripathi as SCICs cannot receive benefits/emoluments from state governments.

He took charge as SCIC on September 1, 2010, after retiring as All India Service Officer (AISO) on April 31 that year.

C. Selvaraj of ATAC, in a complaint lodged on January 17, claimed Mr Sripathi applied to TNHB for a flat in Nerkundram under a scheme “for government officials and employees” and got it.

In a separate complaint, another activist A. Shankar said SCIC was not an AISO on October 28, 2010, when the scheme was floated or on February 28, 2011, when its guidelines were framed.

“On retiring from civil service, he ceased to be a government employee and hence his claim to a flat is an effort to ‘acquire other interests’ as per section 17(3)(e) of RTI Act 2005,” Mr Selvaraj said, demanding Mr Sripathi’s removal.

SCIC, however, denied being a beneficiary of the Nerkundram scheme. “Everything has been done legally,” he told DC.

-dc chn