PANJIM: Advocate General of Goa Mr. Subodh Kantak. today sought time to file his reply to the complaint filed against him by Adv. Aires Rodrigues for not complying with the provisions of the Right to Information Act for the last five years.
When the case against the Advocate General came up for hearing today before the Goa State Chief Information Commissioner Mr. Motilal Kenny, Adv. Mahesh Sonak appeared on behalf of Mr. Subodh Kantak.
The State Commission adjourned the matter to Feb 4th for the Advocate General’s reply while making it clear that no further adjournment will be granted.
Adv, Rodrigues has in his complaint against Mr. Subodh Kantak submitted that the Advocate General as a “public authority” was required under Section 5 of the Act to designate within 100 days. Public Information Officers to provide information to persons requesting the same from the Advocate General’s office.
Adv. Rodrigues has also stated that Section 4 the Act required the Advocate General to publish and make public within one hundred and twenty days various information details about the Advocate General’s office.
In his petition Adv. Aires Rodrigues has sought that the Advocate General of Goa be penalized in terms of section 20 of the RTI Act for not complying with the provisions of the RTI Act.
The Advocate General seems to be making a mockery of his office.
ReplyDeleteIf he has been appointed as Advocate General and given all the time on earth to prepare his / this case,why is he now using the proverbial "delaying tactics" to frustrate the case.
This tactic is applied by nearly all other Goan Advocates.
It has two values:
1. It allows the Advocate to mint money
2. It is used to frustrate Court applicants / Petitioners to withdraw cases.
This tactic is used mainly by Advocates who are on the "defence" side of a court case and represent the "Defendants".
Non appeareance of Advocates at Court cases without a good and reasonable excuse should be punishable by a severe and monetary "fine".Non-Appearance ,more than once should not be acceptable.
It is also well known that many Advocates use Juniors to attend hearings to delay the case.