A query posted by a 10-year-old girl under the Right to Information Act (RTI) regarding father of nation status to Mahatma Gandhi has raised a piquant situation before the government.
In February this year, Aishwarya Parashar, a class sixth student, sent an RTI application to the central public information officer of Prime Minister's office seeking a photocopy of the order through which Mahatma Gandhi was declared as father of the nation.
From the PMO, the application was forwarded to the Ministry of Home Affairs. The MHA, however, stating that it does not comes under its purview forwarded the application to the National Archives of India.
The NAI in its reply send to Aishwarya has said that no specific documents on the information sought were available.
"As per the search among the public records in the NAI there is no specific documents on the information being sought by you," assistant director of archives Jayaprabha Ravindran said in a letter send to the girl.
The AD said that NAI has a large number of public records related to Mahatma Gandhi. "As per the guidelines laid down by the DOPT the duty of the CPIO is only to make available the records for consultation and not undertake any research on behalf of the application," Ravichandran said.
"You are therefore most welcome to visit the department to undertake a detailed search among the public records and library material for the desired information," he added.