The state information commission has slapped a showcause notice on the principal information officer and joint secretary of the cooperative department for furnishing misleading data under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The information was provided to city-based trader Saroj Khettry, who had been seeking the data from the cooperative department for 25 years.

When the department refused to furnish the information in May this year, he approached the commission. “I narrated my ordeal to the commission and produced documents to show that the cooperative department had violated the RTI Act,” said Khettry.

State information commissioner Arun Bhattacharya stated: “We held a hearing in October this year and directed the principal information officer and joint secretary of the cooperative department, H.P. Roy, to reply Khettry’s queries.”

The RTI authorities later came to know that the information furnished by Roy was neither true nor complete. “He had only forwarded an extract when the commission had asked him to supply Khettry all the documents in full,” said an official of the commission.

“It seems some senior bureaucrats think the commission is a paper tiger. We hope our move will serve as a wake-up call for them,” he added.

H.P. Roy refused to comment on the matter. Some cooperative department officers said the discrepancy was caused by non-availability of information. “We do not have storage facility for intra-department records or a computerised system of data storage like other departments of the state government,” claimed an officer of the cooperative department.

If Roy fails to explain his action, he may be penalised.

“The commission’s move is very encouraging,” said M. Bhattacharyya, a member of RTI Manch (West Bengal), a forum for information seekers through RTI.