Goa: Prayer seeking appointment of public information officer to guv's office allowed

PANAJI: The

Goa State information commission

has allowed the prayer of a social activist seeking appointment of a

public information officer

to the Goa Governor's office.


The commission on Monday concurred with the earlier order of the state information commission.

It, however, declined to impose any penalty as sought by the activist in the matter.

Government advocate P Dangui

had earlier stated that said there was no mandate under the law to appoint a PIO and that the Governor’s office is not a public authority and doesn't come under the purview of the RTI act.

He had said that the Raj Bhavan is not a legal entity. Merely because other Raj Bhavans in the country and the Rashtrapati Bhavan have appointed PIOs doesn't mean that the

Goa Raj Bhavan

must follow suit, he had argued.

Dangui had also argued that the governor enjoys immunity and is not engaged in day to day functioning of the government and that decisions are taken by various departments.

The governor is only the executive head and that any information available can be obtained from the concerned department, he had stated.

Advocate Aires Rodrigues who filed the complaint before the commission had also prayed for orders to be passed directing Raj Bhavan to make mandatory disclosures to the public under section 4 (1) of the RTI act.

“Raj Bhavan is covered under the definition of public authority and the failure to appoint a Public information officer is illegal, very high-handed, malafide and without reasonable cause. It is deplorable that the Goa Raj Bhavan instead of leading by example has been scuttling an Act which was enacted to ensure transparency and accountability in the functioning of the government,” Advocate Aires Rodrigues had stated in his complaint.