Chief secretary’s office is the one which conducts all major oath-taking ceremonies at RajbhavanThough the state chief secretary’s (CS) office conducts all major oath-taking ceremonies at Raj Bhavan, it has no information on the ceremonies it has conducted so far and the expenses incurred.When a case before the state information commission (SIC) sought details on the ceremonies, the CS’s office said it had no idea about them. This, RTI activists say shows the state’s top office was not maintaining records and making a mockery of the Information Act.Information deniedSocial activist Wg Cdr G B Athri had sought information on all oath ceremonies the CS office had conducted last year. He had sought to know on the public funds spent on these occasions.The matter had reached the SIC after it was repeatedly denied by the public information officer and appellate authorities of the CS office.Athri had argued that information was denied to him. An undersecretary to the government had defended their stance saying an applicant may access information that the public authority has, and in case the information is not required to be maintained by the public authority as per the rules and regulations, the Act didn’t cast obligation upon the authority to collect or collate such non-available information and furnish to the applicant.The information commission had ordered the chief secretary’s office to provide the information. To his shock, the chief secretary’s office recently communicated to Athri that it has no information pertaining to oath-taking ceremonies at Raj Bhavan.“If the head of the secretariat fails to maintain records of public expenditure, that’s tragedy for accounting of public money,” Athri told Bangalore Mirror.Case closed?The state information commission had closed the case last month with a warning to the CS’s office to provide timely information.“The information commission too has failed to uphold the dignity and sanctity of the Act as it seemed to be in a hurry to close the case. This order now has to pass legal scrutiny in a higher court,” Athri said