Adv. Aires Rodrigues has today filed an appeal before the First Appellate Authority at the Goa Raj Bhavan over the failure of its Public Information Officer (PIO) to furnish information sought under the RTI Act.
Adv. Rodrigues on 16th December last year had sought a copy of all the official letters received by Goa Governor from the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister from November 3rd 2019 to August 18th 2020 which pertains to the period when Satya Pal Malik was the Governor of Goa.
Gaurish Shankhwalkar the designated PIO under the RTI Act at Raj Bhavan in his reply to Adv. Rodrigues earlier this month on 11th January stated that the official letters from the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister were all received in closed sealed envelopes and were handed over to the Governor’s Personal Secretary.
The PIO further informed Adv. Rodrigues that he does not know about the contents of those letters and that they are not part of the records and files of his office and as such the information sought was not available with him.
Adv. Aires Rodrigues in his appeal has also submitted that while failing to furnish the information sought, the PIO had high-handedly taken shelter under unacceptable reasons in rank contravention of the RTI Act.
Alleging that the PIO has denied information with erroneous, frivolous, unwarranted bald headed and malafide intentions while acting as a caged parrot of the powers to be, Adv Rodrigues has submitted that the conduct of the PIO to deny information was illegal, untenable and with suspect motives.
Pointing out that the information sought by him very much exists at the Goa Raj Bhavan, Adv, Rodrigues in his appeal has further submitted that the PIO was duty bound to secure that information from the concerned section at the Raj Bhavan and furnish it as mandated by law.
