next letter from MMD after one-and-a-half years!

Note how MMD has preferred to adopt a head-in-the-sand approach, hoping the problem will go away. The maritime administration of a superpower did not reply for one-and-a-half years.

reply to SWO and SM, Chennai, Mr. Rajan

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        7-3-‘11

To

    Mr. KM Rajan

Shipping Master

Chennai

Dear Sir,

              I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 4-2-’11.

A summary and history of my case is attached. It may be seen that most, if not all correspondence (which you have been kind enough to describe as unnecessary), have been reminders and recapitulation of the grievance originally submitted but not responded by you.

I am glad that DG Shipping and Ministry of Shipping, Govt. of India, have acknowledged that my repeated reminders have not been actioned by your office.

I will therefore request you not to increase unnecessary correspondence, by taking quick action on my grievance and request for compensation.

RTI Act stipulates penalties and compensation for not responding or delayed response. I will reserve the right to claim under this provision for procrastination and denying information.

Summary of sequence of correspondence

Original grievance of Shivakumar

2-8-‘08	e-mail reminder from Shivakumar to MMD Chennai	Response from RM Elango, Dy. Shipping Master Chennai on 10-10-08, promising investigation
10-10-‘08	Reminder by registered post from Shivakumar to RM Elango, Dy. Shipping Master Chennai	No response
26-3-‘10	e-mail reminder from Shivakumar to MMD Chennai	Response from BR Sekhar, Dy. Chief Surveyor, MMD Chennai, promising action on 5-4-‘10

Reminders for RTI request by Shivakumar

8-6-‘10	e-mail reminder from Shivakumar to MMD Chennai	No response
9-6-‘10	Reminder by registered post from Shivakumar to Jayachandran, PIO Chennai	No response
30-8-‘10	Reminder by registered post from Shivakumar to RM Elango, Dy. Shipping Master, Chennai	No response
15-9-‘10	Reminder by e-mail from Shivakumar to MMD Chennai	No response
4-10-‘10	Reminder by registered post to RM Elango, Dy. Shipping Master, Chennai	No response

22-6-’10 – letter from MMD Chennai – strangely informing that I have not replied

7-7-’10 – letter from MMD Chennai – strangely informing that I have not replied

11-7-‘10	Reply from Shivakumar by e-mail to MMD Chennai	No response
2-8-‘10	Reminder from Shivakumar by e-mail to MMD Chennai	No response
14-8-‘10	Reminder from Shivakumar by e-mail to MMD Chennai	No response
17-8-‘10	Reminder from Shivakumar by registered post to RM Elango, Dy. Shipping Master Chennai	No response
15-9-‘10	Reminder by e-mail from Shivakumar to MMD Chennai	No response
16-9-‘10	Reminder from Shivakumar by registered post to RM Elango, Dy. Shipping Master, Chennai	No response
31-1-‘11	Reminder from Shivakumar by registered post to RM Elango, Dy. Shipping Master, Chennai	No response
14-2-‘11	Reminder by Shivakumar by registered post to Secretary, Ministry of Shipping, Govt. of India	Response from Dy. Secretary and Chief Public Information Officer, Ministry of Shipping, Govt. of India on 24-2-‘11

Can you please expedite action for compensation and redressing of grievance?

                                                                                                                     Yours faithfully

                                                             

                                                                                                                 V. Shivakumar

Cc: DG Shipping

Cc: Secretary, Ministry of Shipping, Govt. of India

Enclosed: Letter from KM Rajan, Shipping Master, Chennai