We must commend our Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai for lifting that veil of secrecy and opening the gates of Goa Raj Bhavan to embrace the Right to Information Act.
As required by the transparency law, the Governor’s Joint Secretary has been appointed as the Public Information Officer (PIO) while the Secretary to the Governor is the First Appellate Authority under the RTI Act.
This brings to an end my long protracted litigation with our Raj Bhavan which commenced at the State Information Commission and after moving on to our High Court was now pending before the Supreme Court.
For over a decade the Goa Raj Bhavan was adamantly not submitting itself to the RTI Act by strangely claiming that the Governor was not a ‘Public Authority’ despite all other Raj Bhavans across the country and even the Rashtrapati Bhavan being under the purview of this law which was enacted to ensure Transparency and Accountability in Governance.
The move by Governor Pillai is most appropriate while sending a powerful message on the need of a citizen-centric approach of transparency, openness and accountability in governance. It is in the best interests of our democratic principles and the Constitutional mandate of the RTI Act.
