Corporation claims DPRs for public projects belong to private consultants

The revelation came after Arappor Iyakkam, an NGO, sought a copy of the DPR prepared for missing stormwater drain link works. In his reply, the executive engineer, who is also the public information officer, invoked section 8 (1) (d) of the RTI Act and said the DPR was prepared by NSS Associates and the document is a voluminous report. “Further, it is the intellectual property of the consultant. Based on the DPR, the government has examined the project and accorded administrative sanction for the implementation of the stormwater drain project. The report covers 426 km. Hence, it is informed that this DPR could not be furnished under invoked section 8 (1) (d) of the RTI Act,” the reply said.

Jayaram Venkatesan, convenor of Arappor Iyakkam, alleged the DPR has been fudged after the NGO exposed that stormwater drains in good condition are being demolished. “DPRs are public documents and the consultants are paid from public money for preparing them,” he said, seeking action against officials over this.

However, Superintending Engineer (Stormwater drain) L Nanda Kumar debunked the allegation and admitted that once the consultants submit the DPRs to the Chennai Corporation, it would become a public document. “The reply was given by one of the executive engineers and I have no say in it as the executive engineers concerned are nodal officers for RTI. If the applicant is not satisfied with the reply, he may appeal to me, as I am the appellate authority. I could not read the queries unless the appeals are filed,” he added.

As per section 8 (1) (d) of the RTI Act, officials can deny providing information, including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information.