MAPUSA
Locals said the Calangute panchayat fails to provide proper information under the RTI, forcing them to approach the BDO, Bardez, who is the first appellate authority for appeal.
Several villagers have complained that more often than not the response to their RTI applications are either “information not available” or “documents not available” which forces them to go on appeal.
Panchayat secretary Arjun Velip is the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the coastal village panchayat.
But since the secretary is reportedly loaded with work, the panchayat has entrusted the job of furnishing RTI information to an advocate who doubles up as the legal advisor of the panchayat.
According to local residents, the advocate concerned fails to provide proper information to their RTI appeals and often furnishes replies stating that information or documents are not available with the panchayat.
“Under the RTI Act the panchayat secretary is the PIO who should provide information. No other person can step into the shoes of the PIO as has been happening in the Calangute panchayat. This procedure adopted by the panchayat is not as per the RTI Act,” said Clotilda Braganza, while raising the issue at the gram sabha meeting.
She said that people who apply for information through RTI were hassled because they were forced to go to the BDO office in Mapusa for appeal.
She further disclosed that the whole exercise becomes cumbersome and time consuming, as many times the matters are adjourned leaving the villagers frustrated.
Angry villagers said the panchayat was unnecessarily spending public funds to pay the advocate for a job that has to be carried out by the secretary.
“Public funds are used to appoint an advocate to defend the PIO’s acts of omission and commission in the panchayat,” said Antonio De Souza, a resident of Calangute.
Defending the decision, Panchayat Secretary Arjun Velip said nowhere in the RTI Act is it said that another official cannot be appointed for furnishing information.
A Mapusa-based RTI activist, Jawaharlal Shetye told The Goan that sometimes documents are misplaced or lost and therefore the PIO has to swear an affidavit stating that the documents were not available.
He further informed that going for an appeal was a cumbersome job and therefore many times people do not venture for an appeal.
