Wednesday, September 06, 2006

APIO cannot refuse a request for information

The Goa RTI commission has decided 2 cases, one against the police dept and another objecting to the payment of fee for inspection of documents. Full details are at the site http://egov.goa.nic/rtipublic/sic.aspx.


Briefly, the police department in goa has adopted a system of hierarchy of APIO/PIO/AA. If somebody approaches PIO, he is directed to first go to the APIO, though both the APIO and PIO are in the same building. The APIO refuses the request without authority. If an appeal is filed that is disposed off as a routine correspondence and not after hearing the appellant and not passing a reasoned order. Enquiry into a complaint against a superintendent of police is conducted by another superintendent of police. On a RTI Application, the information is refused by the same SP against whom the complaint is filed. It is a curious situation. Certain directions are given to the Director General Of Police. Let us hope for the best.

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