Officials of the Home Ministry were stumped by an RTI applicant who sought to know the government's action plan to counter a 'zombie' or an alien attack.
The quirky query left the babus of the Ministry flabbergasted as the idea was completely alien to them.
Zombies are fictional creatures mostly portrayed in works of horror, like Hollywood flick 'Night of the Living Dead'.
Ajay Kumar of Mumbai wanted to know from the Ministry what plans were in place for protecting the public in the event of an invasion by zombies or extra dimensional beings.
"What are our chances against them? What means the Government have at its disposal to defeat them," he asked.
The apparent 'Men in Black' fan ended his application with a sarcastic, "Can we do it without Will Smith?"
Six months after the application was filed, it came to notice of Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju today who could not stop himself from tweeting, "The subject matter is too scientific. This kind of RTIs will waste the precious time of the office staffs (sic)."
The query may have been a little off-beat, but it had elicited a serious bureaucratic response from the Ministry within two days of receiving it.
"It is observed you have not sought any specific information that is available in the Ministry of Home Affairs. You have raised questions/queries on some hypothetical situations and sought views/legal opinion of the Ministry of Home Affairs on that issue.
"It is informed that such requests do not come under the definition of information specified under section 2(f) of the RTI Act, 2005. Under this Act, an applicant can seek information (from a public authority) which exists in the records and is held by or under the control of public authority," the Ministry said.
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