Facing criticism for a circular asking Right to Information applicants to swear on a notarised affidavit that they are citizens of India, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar withdrew the circular even as he blamed the problem on his bureaucrats.
Addressing mediapersons, Parrikar said that the officers implemented only the final lines of his instructions to them.
“Any document like an election ID card, which can prove your nationality can be attached if the PIO (public information officer) asks for it… The officer while listening to me only used the last paragraph about the affidavit and issued the circular on Tuesday,” Parrikar told reporters.
The circular already sent the State’s Opposition parties and civil society into overdrive slamming the Government for what they termed was a move to add an additional obstacle in the path of obtaining information.
Opposition Congress legislator Vishwajeet Rane said that he was shocked by the action of the Goa Government.“It is trying to make it difficult for common man to get information under RTI. This Government came to power promising transparency and this move of making RTI difficult shows the true intention of the Government,” said Rane, who called it a black day for every Goan.
The civil society also expressed its anguish over the move of the Government. “Goa is the only State where RTI applicants have to now unnecessarily bear extra financial costs of swearing an affidavit on citizenship. This skewed move of the Goa Government is contrary to the very intent and objectives of the RTI Act of ensuring that information was easily available to any citizen,” Adv Aires Rodrigues, an avid RTI campaigner said.
The circular, according to Director of Information and Publicity Swapnil Naik, was sent to all public information officers (PIOs).
A Government circular issued late Tuesday now asks all Right to Information applicants to mandatorily attach a copy of the affidavit swearing that the applicant is an Indian national.
Parrikar, seeking to put an end to the controversy, now said that a fresh circular was being issued, with which the insistence on a true copy of an affidavit with every RTI application would be dropped.