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* CHIEF INFO COMMISSIONER
Adv Prashant Tendulkar
* STATE INFO COMMISSIONERS
Pratima Vernekar, Juino de Souza
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PANAJI: Nearly a year later, the Goa State Information Commision got into operational mode on Friday with Chief Secretary SK Srivastava administering the oath of office to State Chief Information Commissioner Adv Prashant Tendulkar and State Information Commissioners Pratima Vernekar and Juino de Souza in a brief ceremony held at the Secretariat Seminar hall on Friday.
Speaking on the occasion, Tendulkar said the thrust would be on clearing the backlog of cases as well as on training of information officers and public information officers.
“We can recommend for training for PIOs. There are many instances when the PIOs are fined for failing to provide information, when the fault isn’t really their own,” Tendulkar told reporters immediately after his swearing-in.
“We will have to give priority to old matter. If there are old matters and they are not taken up, they will become infructuous, which is not the intention of the Act. The priority will be given to old matters,” he said.
When asked whether he would urge the various government departments to provide information on their own to the various departments, as the act mandates “every public authority to take steps to provide as much information suo motu to the public at regular intervals through various means of communications, including internet, so that the public have minimum resort to the use of this Act to obtain information.”
“It is important that information be given, whether it is in the public domain or whether it is provided privately,” even as he hastened to add, “whatever is mandated by law will be done.”
Earlier the Director of Information and Publicity, Jayant Tari welcomed the guests and read out the order of appointment of SCIC and SICs.
Secretaries to Government and Several senior Civil Service officers were also present on the occasion. Family members, friends and well wishers of both the newly appointed SCIC and the SICs were also present on the occasion. Secretary Education Virendra Kumar who is also Secretary Information & Publicity was also also present.The Information Commission has said that it will begin work immediately.
