A legal notice has been served on the Chief Secretary of Goa over the non-functional and failure to regularly update government websites.
The Chief Secretary has been given 15 days to ensure that all government department websites are made functional and regularly updated and to also appoint a Public Information Officer in the office of the Advocate General as was directed by the State Information Commission in 2011. Section 4 of the RTI Act mandates that all information should be uploaded and regularly updated on all government websites. The lackadaisical approach of the government in not complying with the mandate of the RTI Act defeats the very purpose of the Act which was enacted for the welfare of the masses and meant to usher in transparency in the functioning of government institutions. There is a concern that the websites are intentionally kept non-functional under the guise that they have been hacked only to deny the public their rightful access to information. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had last year stated in the Goa Legislative Assembly that people would not require to seek information under the RTI Act as all file notings would be uploaded on the Government websites. That assurance of the Chief Minister has to date only been consigned to the racks. The authorities should make available on the Goa Government website the official and private tours of the Chief Minister and Ministers so that the public at large are aware of their whereabouts. By an order dated 17th March 2011 order of the Goa State Information Commission had directed the Chief Secretary to appoint within 45 days a Public Information Officer to exclusively furnish information pertaining to the office of the Advocate General and had also directed that all information pertaining to the Advocate General’s office be documented and published electronically within three months. These directions to date have not been complied with. If the government can pour crores of rupees down the drain on foreign junkets for Ministers and Officers to make merry at the taxpayer’s expense, there could be no reason why the government cannot find the money to keep all the websites functional and updated so that the public can freely access all information which they are entitled to under the Right to Information Act. Aires Rodrigues Advocate High Court C/G-2, Shopping Complex Ribandar Retreat, Ribandar – Goa – 403006 Mobile No: 9822684372 Office Tel No: (0832) 2444012 Email: airesrodrigu...@gmail.com Or airesrodrig...@yahoo.com You can also reach me on Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues Twitter@rodrigues_aires