RTI Act does not outline role of First Appellate Authority: AG Pangam.

The Goan : Panaji: Saturday, October 2024.

Advocate General Devidas Pangam on Friday said that the Right to Information Act (RTI) does not clearly outline the role of the First Appellate Authority (FAA). Speaking at a State event to celebrate RTI Day, the AG stated that the FAA holds the same powers and duties as the original authority.

“Apart from one or two provisions, the Act is silent on the role of the FAA. As such, we should understand that the FAA has the same powers and duties which original authority has besides also having incidental powers. However, they don’t have the substantive powers which the State Information Commission has,” he said while speaking on the topic ‘Role of First Appellate Authority (FAA) in upholding the spirit of RTI Act.’

The AG urged the FAAs attending the event to always provide information as sought by the applicants and only reject it in the rarest of rare cases or if it comes under the exemption clauses. “Any information you can give to the Legislative Assembly has to be provided to the public,” he added, “if information is in the public domain, like on Government websites etc, then applications seeking information will reduce drastically. It will thus reduce the burden on the system and on officers as well reducing the liabilities of the officers.”

Goa State Chief Information Commissioner (SCIC) Aravind Kumar Nair discussed the challenges of implementing the RTI Act, stating that accountability involves three dimensions -- responsibility, answerability and enforceability, which govern the relationship between rights holders and duty bearers.

He said that Public Information Officers (PIOs) play a paramount role in receiving and processing applications.

SIC Atmaram Barve said that the RTI Act has provisions that mandate that information should be disseminated in the State language and announced that the Act will be available in Konkani which will make it easy for the public to understand.

“The spirit of the Act promotes transparency and accountability which is the backbone of democracy. This Act gives power to the people and various authorities have interpreted this legislation in different ways which has led to the strengthening of the Act,” he added.