Team Herald
PANJIM: There are 1250 Right to Information (RTI) appeals pending with the Goa State Information Commission (GSIC) from January 1 to December 31, 2016. The highest number of appeals is from panchayats, followed by Town and Country Planning (TCP).
Speaking to Herald, GSIC State Chief Information Commissioner, Prashant Tendulkar said, “A total of 2000 RTI appeals were pending before the commission from January 1 to December 31, 2016, of which 750 appeals were disposed and 1250 are still remaining and yet to be disposed of. There are appeals pending right from the year 2009.”
“The State Information Commission is trying hard to dispose of old matters first. Last year, panchayats topped the list in maximum RTI appeals filed, followed by Town and Country Planning (TCP). Recently we disposed 750 pending appeals and now around 1250 are still pending. There are appeals pending since the year 2009 which are yet to be disposed off,” Tendolkar said.
Asked about the department’s latest plans to dispose matters at a faster pace, Tendolkar said, “The department is trying hard to achieve this landmark, but a major problem is shortage of staff in the GSIC. Surprisingly most of the staff in the department is on deputation basis. Once we get a reasonable amount of staff the department will effectively function at a faster pace.”
The commissioner further said that the department’s work is hampered when any of the office bearers take a day off and it becomes difficult to manage and that this could be solved only after taking in sufficient amount of staff.
RTI activist Kashinath Shetye, speaking on the piling appeals with the GSIC, said, “Currently nobody gives information directly, keeping aside noted RTI activists, others are harassed by the concerned heads of department. The entire system has to be changed and that is the only solution. Every common man cannot go appealing their applications.”
The Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, is crucial as it empowers citizens, promotes transparency and accountability in government working, contains corruption, and makes democracy work for the people in the real sense.
“Effective implementation of the RTI Act requires political commitment from the very top. Officials denying information or giving misleading and distorted information need to be severely penalised. Governance by cloak of secrecy and opaqueness needs to be strongly resisted. It cannot be a hush-hush regime. We need to dismantle those walls of secrecy that continue to hound transparency and good governance” said Advocate Aires Rodrigues.
