SC stays HC order to make public Goa Guv's report

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed all proceedings arising out of a notice by the Goa information commissioner asking the governor's office to furnish all the reports it had sent to the President during the political turmoil in the state in 2007.

The apex court bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari, Justice TS Thakur and Justice Dipak Misra issued notice to the petitioners before the information commission saying that some important questions of law had been raised and needed to be addressed.

The court observed that the "question raised in the petition are important and require its consideration".

The principal information officer (PIO), Goa, moved the Supreme Court challenging the judgment of the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court which held that the governor was a public authority and consequently came under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The judgment was delivered November 14.

Appearing for the PIO, Goa, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Vivek Tankha told the court that the office of the governor was not covered under the act.

Tankha told the court that information sought under the RTI was available with the government and its ministries and the same could be accessed from them.

The court took a grim view of the language used in one of the notices issued to the governor by the state information commission which said that he would present himself before the commission and would not leave without its permission.

Noting that it was very unusual for such notices to use such language, the court observed "don't bring down the institutions".

Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Manohar Parrikar of the Bharatiya Janata Party had moved the state information commission seeking copies of reports sent by the governor to the president between July 24 and Aug 14, 2007.

In another case, activist Aires Rodrigues' November 29, 2010, moved an application seeking details under the RTI on action taken on complaints made by him to Goa governor against a government lawyer.

The court asked the respondents to file their replies within four weeks and gave two weeks to the petitioner PIO to file his rejoinder within two weeks thereafter.