<p>The commission said the governor would have to appear before it in person for the hearing on Janaury 4. The governor’s special secretary N Radhakrishnan has also been directed to be present.<br /><br />This is perhaps the first time that a governor of a state has been asked to face an information commission since the constitution of the Right to Information Act in 2005.<br /><br />Activist lawyer Aires Rodrigues had filed a petition before the commission after Raj Bhavan sent him a letter, saying the governor’s office was beyond the jurisdiction of the Right to Information law.<br /><br />The lawyer challenged this, arguing that as a constitutional post, the governor was very much a “public authority” under section 2 (h) (a) of the Right to Information Act. <br />“As the governor has been notified as a public authority, he is bound to furnish the information sought under the Right to Information, and in refusing to do so his actions are unreasonable and malafide,” the lawyer said.<br /><br />The lawyer, who is counsel in several public interest cases before courts including one against the state’s Advocate General Subodh Kantak, had sought details of action taken on a complaint made to the governor’s office.</p>
<p>The commission said the governor would have to appear before it in person for the hearing on Janaury 4. The governor’s special secretary N Radhakrishnan has also been directed to be present.<br /><br />This is perhaps the first time that a governor of a state has been asked to face an information commission since the constitution of the Right to Information Act in 2005.<br /><br />Activist lawyer Aires Rodrigues had filed a petition before the commission after Raj Bhavan sent him a letter, saying the governor’s office was beyond the jurisdiction of the Right to Information law.<br /><br />The lawyer challenged this, arguing that as a constitutional post, the governor was very much a “public authority” under section 2 (h) (a) of the Right to Information Act. <br />“As the governor has been notified as a public authority, he is bound to furnish the information sought under the Right to Information, and in refusing to do so his actions are unreasonable and malafide,” the lawyer said.<br /><br />The lawyer, who is counsel in several public interest cases before courts including one against the state’s Advocate General Subodh Kantak, had sought details of action taken on a complaint made to the governor’s office.</p>
