'Exhaust appeal remedy before approaching Goa state information commission'

The Times of India: Goa: Sunday, June 03, 2012.

PANAJI: In a significant order, the Goa state information commission (GSIC) has held that an applicant should not approach it in a complaint under Section 18 of the Right To Information (RTI) Act when there is scope to file a first appeal under Section 19 (1) before the first appellate authority.

The observation relates to an application filed by RTI activist Kashinath Shetye before the public information officer of the water resources department (WRD). When Shetye could not get the information he sought, he directly appealed to the GSIC, instead of making his first appeal before the first appellate authority of the WRD. When the avenue of first appeal under Section 19 (1) of the RTI Act is available to an RTI applicant, he should not be encouraged to skip that level and reach the GSIC in a complaint under Section 18, especially when the relief sought by him could be best provided through the process of first appeal, the commission has stated.

The Goa state chief information commissioner, M S Keny, advised the RTI applicant to approach the first appellate authority if he thought that his request for information was denied by the public information officer of the department. Instead of approaching the first appellate authority, the applicant directly made his second appeal to the GSIC. In its order, the commission also ordered the WRD's PIO to furnish the information to the applicant.

Referring to Section 18, the commission observed thus: "Constructively interpreted, these would imply that Section 18 should be invoked, provided other provisions of this Act, relevant to the subject of the petition, have been earlier invoked, or if there are grounds to hold that the petitioner was prevented from invoking those provisions to seek appropriate relief."

Noting that Section 18 cannot be allowed to be used as a substitute, the commission directed Shetye "to file his first appeal before the appellate authority, and should he still be dissatisfied with the orders of the appellate authority he may approach the commission in a second appeal/complaint".