AIRES RODRIGUES FILES COMPLAINT AGAINT SUBODH KANTAK

PANJIM: An RTI activist has filed a complaint before the Goa State Information Commission against advocate general of Goa Subodh Kantak for not complying with provisions of the Right to Information Act (RTI) and not appointing a public information officer, though his office is a public authority.

Activist Aires Rodrigues, in his complaint on Friday, said that though the RTI Act was enacted to promote transparency and accountability and became law on June 15, 2005, the advocate general has not complied with the provisions of the Act for over five years.

Stating that the advocate general is a "public authority" as defined in Section 2 (h) of the RTI Act 2005, Rodrigues said that being a constitutional authority constituted under the Constitution of India, he was required under Section 5 of the Act to designate within 100 days, a PIO to provide information under the Act to persons requesting the same from the advocate general's office.

He further stated that Section 4 of the Act requires the advocate general to publish and make public within 120 days various information details about the advocate general's office.

Rodrigues has said that failure to comply with the RTI Act by the advocate general was unreasonable, malafide and without reasonable cause. Rodrigues has sought that Kantak should be penalized in terms of Section 20 of the RTI Act for not complying with the provision of the Act.