Letters to former Goa Governor from PM, HM in sealed envelopes, not part of records: PIO

PANAJI: The Public Information Officer (PIO) at the Goa Raj Bhavan, in response to an RTI query by Adv Aires Rodrigues has stated that the information asked for under RTI is not available with the records department of the Raj Bhavan.

Rodrigues had on December 16th last year, through his second RTI application sought copies of all the official letters received by the Goa Governor from the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister’s offices during the period between November 3rd 2019 to August 18th 2020, which pertains to the period when Satya Pal Malik was the Governor of Goa.

According to Gaurish Shankhwalkar, the designated PIO under the RTI Act at Raj Bhavan, the letters from the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister were all received in closed, sealed envelopes and were handed over to the Governor’s Personal Secretary and were not part of the office records of the department.

The PIO said he does not know about the contents of those letters and that they are not part of the records and files of his office and as such, the information sought was not available with him. He is not aware about the existence of the letters, the PIO claimed.