Now, RTI activist gets governor's office snub

Times of India‎‎‎: Hyderabad: Thursday, October 06, 2016.

Days after Governor ESL Narasimhan got angry at a Rajasthan-based additional director-general of police over rights of RTI activists, it was the turn of a city-based RTI activist to face ire from the governor's office.

Replying to a query on tribal population, the liason officer and public information officer (PIO) in Governor's secretariat told activist Ganji Srinivasa Rao that the `Governor is not a public authority'. The reply signed by a liason officer was furnished to the RTI activist earlier this week when he sought a copy of the governor's an nual administrative report on the status of Scheduled areas concerning tribals in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh submitted to the central government. The governor's office went on to add that "your request is not feasible for consideration" while citing exemption from disclosure un der Section 8 (1) of the RTI Act.

On his part, Srinivasa Rao said, "There are judicial prece dents that have held that gover nor's office was a public authori ty and they too came under the ambit of RTI Act unless the in formation sought affected the sovereingity , integrity or securi ty of the country as mentioned in the exceptions."

The information on admini stration of Scheduled areas in Telangana and AP sought by the RTI activist from the governor's office is generally sent by all sta te governors to Union tribal mi nistry every year, but in the case of the twin states no such report was sent to the Centre since 2014, as per details on tribal.nic.in website.

In his reply (a copy is with TOI), the PIO sought to redirect the RTI activist to approach the appellate authority , in this case the joint secretary to the governor and first appellate authority , governor's secretariat, Raj Bhavan, Hyderabad for the information required.

Interestingly, the Central Information Commission's latest verdict in Aditya Jain vs Lieutenant Governor Secretariat of November 2015, CIC prof M Sridhar Acharyulu had held that the "office of lieutenant governor, being a constitutional authority , should be a public authority ." "The commission holds that the report of the LG comes under the definition of "information" under RTI Act," CIC prof M Sridhar said in the case. He, however, added that the governor's office has immunity from providing information, but that applies only to "advice tendered on ministers to the governor" under Article 74 (2) and Article 163 (3) of the Constitution.