2 SICs named to clear backlog of cases
TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The government on Monday selected retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Leena Mehendale as chief information commissioner (CIC) and two state information commissioners (SICs) Sandesh Prabhudessai and Stanley Coutinho.
Mehendale, has served as an additional chief secretary to the government of Maharashtra and is presently working as a member of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Bombay bench.
Coutinho has 33 years of professional experience in senior administrative and quasi-judicial capacity in units under the Union Ministry of Defence, while Prabhudessai is a journalist.
The SIC’s post was vacant from September 13, 2012 and CIC from July 30, 2012. Announcing the decision at a press conference, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said that the selection has been done by the government’s selection committee on Right to Information (RTI) headed by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, including Leader of Opposition Pratapsing Rane and Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’ Souza .
“This is just a selection. The appointments have not been done. It will take time as the procedure has to be followed,” he said.
When asked about the reason behind selection of two SICs, Parrikar said “considering the huge backlog of pendency cases before the Information Commission, the committee decided to have two SICs to clear them at the earliest.”
“Also as per rule, the government can appoint 10 SICs for a state. But Goa does not require such a huge number,” he explained.
The pendency of cases before the Goa State information commission have increased to 1,160, of which pending appeals number 534, pending complaints are 497 and pending penalty cases are 129.
The government had received 22 applications for post of CIC and 29 applications for the post of SIC when the posts were advertised for the third time.
