JOIN USRTI appeals for correspondence between PM, HM and ex-Guv Malik rejected
Goa’s Chief Information Commissioner Vishwas Satarkar on Tuesday dismissed two RTI appeals seeking details of communication between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Goa Governor Satya Pal Malik, whose comments related to corruption in the BJP-led coalition government in Goa and the aftermath of the Pulwama attack have courted controversy recently.
According to RTI activist and city lawyer Aires Rodrigues, one of the RTI applications sought from Goa Raj Bhavan the copies of all the official letters written by then Governor Satya Pal Malik to the PM and home minister during his tenure in Goa from November 3, 2019, to August 18, 2020, and the other application sought a copy of all the official letters received by Goa Governor from the PM and Union Home Minister’s offices.
Both RTI applications were rejected by Raj Bhavan public information officer Gaurish Shankhwalkar, following which Rodrigues appealed to the state’s chief information officer, who on Tuesday also rejected his pleas.
While the first application was rejected by Shankhwalkar, who claimed that letters written by Malik to the PM and HM were not available, the second application was also rejected by the official, who claimed the letters written by the PM and HM to Malik were not part of the Raj Bhavan’s official records.
“I will be challenging the dismissal of my appeal by the chief information officer before the (Bombay) High Court,” Rodrigues said on Tuesday after his appeals were dismissed.
He also added that the Raj Bhavan’s inward and outward registers contained mention of correspondence exchanged between the governor and the PM, Union home minister.
Malik’s comments in a recent interview with a news portal related to the handling of the Pulwama attack and corruption in the BJP-led Goa government recently courted controversy.
Just before he was transferred out of Goa after his brief stint as governor, Malik claimed in an interview with a national news channel that corruption was rampant in Goa in “any and everything”, while also accusing the government of indulging in corruption vis-à-vis the distribution of essential supplies to the people of Goa during the first lockdown.