RTI used for blackmailing, alleges CM
PTI, PANAJI | 20 July 2012 13:57 IST
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told the state Legislative Assembly that some of the activists were misusing the Right to Information (RTI) Act for "blackmailing".
"There are instances in the state where RTI has been misused. It has been used to blackmail people," Parrikar said on the floor of the House last night while responding to the questions raised by the Opposition benches during discussion on demands for grants.
"There are some people who have the habit of blackmailing," he said, referring to the media campaign launched by one of the social activist during the selection of state information commissioner.
Independent legislator Rohan Khaunte had demanded that the state government should impose some restrain on RTI activists who were flooding the departments with applications.
Parrikar said such a restrain cannot be imposed. "There are some people who misuse the law but that do not make the law bad. Let us not criticise the law because some people misuse it," the Chief Minister said.
Parrikar said he would be happy if the state government can design a mechanism wherein all the official documents are uploaded on the website so that people can go through it.
Khaunte as a legislator should understand that his position does not grant him license to restrict peoples freedom. The RTI act is a part of the Democratic process.
The CM is right in this case. If the activist misuses it, use proper provisions of the law to tackle the problem.
This is what CM said:
“It’s a good law which keeps restrain on the public servants. I will request people who are manipulatively using it for their advantage not to do so,” Parrikar said, responding to the statement of Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte who claimed that RTI was being misused by some activists.
“If RTI was not there, corruption would have increased by five times,” he said, conceding that some RTI activists were using it to blackmail the authorities.
The RTI act is not misused but a tool to prevent curruption. My fatherinlaw Mr Pociano Fernandes had asked for information from the Village Panchayat Collem. The secratary of collem Mr P.S Naik has asked for Rs13,000/- to give the required information. He dont want to give the information and that is the reason for charging huge ammount. Moreover he wants to give Xerox copy of the information for which he been not asked for.
If information is given many irregularities will come out from the cupboard of Village Panchayat COLLEM.