MARGAO
Director of Municipal Administration Gurudas Pilarnekar’s order appointing head clerks as Public Information officers (PIOs) in the three Municipalities of Margao, Mormugao and Mapusa has stirred up a Hornet’s nest and has thrown up a host of questions.
One, if the Municipal Chief Officer is the First Appellant Authority (FAA) under the RTI Act, how come a head clerk is appointed the PIO in the civic body when the Municipal sections are being headed by gazetted officials. For, another order issued by the Margao Municipal Chief Officer Manuel Barretto has appointed gazetted officers above the rank of head clerks as Assistant Public Information Officers (APIOs) under the Act, throwing up questions over protocol.
That’s not all. Questions are being asked over the necessity for the Municipal Director to appoint the head clerks as PIOs when Pilarnekar had in March 2022 appointed gazetted officials to act as PIOs in the Margao civic body.
In fact, it would be two months now since the Municipal Director had appointed head clerks in these three civic bodies as the PIOs under the Right to Information Act, but these and many other questions remain unanswered.
If sources are to be believed, the Municipal Director’s order appointing the head clerks as PIOs and the subsequent order by the Margao Municipal Chief Officer appointing gazetted officials as Assistant PIOs have indeed stirred up a Hornet’s nest in the Margao civic body.
Questions are being raised in the corridors of the Margao civic body whether the head clerk is in a position to get all the information under the RTI when he is much below the rank of the gazetted officers. “How come the gazetted officials are expected to cooperate with the head clerk appointed as the PIO when his position is well below the rank of these officials? If the Chief Officer is the First Appellant Authority, it is in the fitness of things the gazetted officials below the rank of the Chief Officer ought to have been appointed as the PIOs to maintain the protocol,” remarked a senior official.
Sources further pointed out that the Chief Officer Manuel Barretto’s December 22 order appointing Assistant PIOs under the Public Information Officer, who in the instant case is a head clerk.
A glance at the Chief Officer’s order shows that the Municipal Engineer Grade-II, Assistant Engineer-II, Accounts and Taxation Officer and the Sanitary Inspector, all appointed as APIOs, are much above the rank of the head clerk.
Incidentally, the Accounts cum Administrative Officer/Assistant Accounts officer, besides the Accounts & Taxation Officer and the Municipal Engineer Grade-II/ Assistant Engineer had all acted as the PIOs in the Margao civic body as per the Municipal Director’s notification dated March 2022.
In fact, a complaint has been dashed to the office of the Municipal Director by a gazetted officer appointed as Assistant PIO by the Margao Municipal Officer, highlighting how come gazetted officers above the rank of head clerks are appointed as APIOs to the PIO, who is the head clerk.
In fact, the complainant officer pointed out that the APIOs in the given situation ought to have been the UDCs and other officers, who are all below the rank of the head clerk.
