Times of India ; Wed, Dec 22, 2010,
PANAJI: After the governor's office refused to divulge information under the Right to Information Act claiming that the governor is not a public authority and therefore does not come within the purview of the RTI Act, social activist Aires Rodrigues filed a petition before the Goa State Information Commission challenging this.
In his petition filed before the SIC on Tuesday, Rodrigues stated that the office of the governor is a constitutional post within the definition of "public authority" under Section 2 (h) (a) of the RTI Act.
He further stated that as the governor has been notified as a public authority he was bound to furnish the information sought and that the refusal was contrary to the RTI Act and is also unreasonable, mala fide and without reasonable cause.
Rodrigues through an application dated November 29, had sought information from Raj Bhavan regarding action taken on complaints made by him to the state governor against state advocate general Subodh Kantak. He had also sought copies of noting sheets and correspondence pertaining to the processing of his complaints against the advocate general.
On November 30, the governor's special secretary N Radhakrishnan replied declining the information stating that information under RTI could not be furnished as the governor is not a public authority and that an affidavit to this effect has been filed before the high court of Bombay at Goa.
Stating that the governor has to furnish the information sought, Rodrigues submitted in the petition that the governor can't claim he is not a public authority just because an affidavit has been filed before the high court that he is not a public authority. He has further submitted in his petition to the SIC that the governor is bound to comply with all the provisions of the RTI Act.
Rodrigues has also sought that the governor be penalized in terms of Section 20 of the RTI Act for not furnishing the information sought.
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