RTI handling at TCP draws court notice

Panaji: The high court of Bombay at Goa has issued a notice in response to a public interest litigation challenging the note/order of the town and country planning minister on RTI queries.

The minister has directed the chief town planner to ensure that the queries are sent to the government for examination and that information is given only after taking the government’s approval.

Notices were issued to the chief town planner, TCP, Prakash Bandodkar, the public information officer of the TCP department, and Vertika Dagur, the first appellate authority of the department.

The petition filed by Claude Alvares and two others states that the order/note of the minister dated May 18, 2023, severely restricts access to information under the RTI Act, 2005, within the TCP department. tnn