TCP info officer rapped for stonewalling RTI request.

Times of India: Panaji: TNN: Friday, August 18, 2023.

Goa State Information Commissioner (SIC) Sanjay Dhavalikar said that the deputy town planner, who is the public information officer (PIO) at the town and country planning department, deserves to be penalised for denying information under the Right to Information Act and has directed the PIO to appear before the commission with a reply to the showcause notice issued to him in the matter. The SIC was disposing of an appeal against the PIO. “Under Section 5(3) of the RTI Act, the PIO was required to assist the applicant if the information sought was not clear. However, the PIO made no efforts to understand what information was being sought by the applicant and denied the information without application of mind,” stated Dhavalikar in the recently delivered judgment.

Joaquim Fernandes, a resident of Curtorim, had requested documents with respect to the criteria based on which the zoning of some land in Curtorim was changed from settlement zone to paddy field in the Regional Plan 2021. In his reply, the PIO rejected the request, stating that the applicant has questioned the criteria and that a PIO can provide only available information and cannot reply to secondary queries. Dhavalikar held that the applicant had requested information pertaining to criteria for a change of zone. If the TCP had changed the zoning, the same was done strictly based on some pre-determined criteria by the authority, and the PIO was required to have the said information and furnish it to the applicant, stated the SIC. However, Dhavalikar said that the PIO neither furnished the information nor appeared before the commission and, thus, needs to be admonished for this irresponsible and arrogant conduct. “The RTI Act has been enacted to bring transparency in the public administration. However, the PIO in the present matter has acted completely against the provisions and spirit of the act,” he said.