Times of India: Panaji: Wednesday,
July 31, 2013.
Officials of
the vigilance department had moved a proposal to exempt the department from
coming under the purview of the Right to Information Act.
As per file
notings of the vigilance department, a proposal was moved on July 4 by the
three public information officers from vigilance seeking that the department be
exempted from the purview of the RTI.
The note was
jointly signed by vigilance deputy director S P NaikGoltekar, anti corruption
branch DySPBossuet Silva and senior technical examiner R V Shrikrishnan. This
was revealed through information obtained by activist Aires Rodrigues under
RTI.
The three
officers pointed out to notifications issued by the governments of Mizoram and
Tamil Nadu exempting the vigilance department in their states from the purview
of RTI.
Two
delegations had called on the governor on July 8 raising the issue and seeking
his intervention to prevent the government from scuttling the RTI. The
government had denied the existence of such a proposal a day later.
On July 9,
vigilance director Amarsen Rane in his noting stated that it would be hard to
recommend exemption of the department. The file after being seen by the chief
secretary on July 15 was sent to chief minister Manohar Parrikar who on July 17
in his page long noting concluded "proposal therefore rejected outright
with contempt". He said it was a most regressive and negative proposal.
Parrikar also said that there is enough protection for investigation under
progress and once inquiries are completed they come under RTI.
Rodrigues who
had led a delegation to the governor on Tuesday alleged that such a proposal
could never have been moved by the three officers without oral directions and
the consent of the chief minister.
Rodrigues has
challenged the chief minister to order an inquiry and take action against the
three officers who had moved the note.
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