Times of India: Panaji: Tuesday, July 04, 2023.
PANAJI: The town and country planning (TCP) department has decided that all Right To Information queries about land conversions through section 17(2) of the TCP Act will be approved by TCP minister Vishwajit Rane. Department officials said Rane wants to restrict the flow of information regarding applications for change of zone from 'eco-sensitive' and 'no-development' to settlement.
TIMESVIEW
TCP minister Vishwajit Rane never loses an opportunity to remind the public that he “believes in transparency” in the functioning of his department. This brings into question his need to issue instructions to send RTI applications pertaining to Sec 17 (2) of the TCP act to him for approval. If everything is indeed transparent, why not follow due procedure under the RTI Act? In the public interest, such attempts to withhold information should be immediately nullified.
Rane, in a formal note to the TCP's public information officer, has said that prior to release of information to the RTI applicants, the documents need to be sent to the government for "legal examination".
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