Bombay HC- When would SIC be constituted?
16 Jul, 2012
A Division Bench of the Bombay High Court in Goa has directed the Goa Government to make a statement within two weeks when the State Information Commission would be constituted. The bench comprising of Justice F.M. Reis and Justice U.V. Bakre was hearing a petition filed by the Goa Cricket Association (GCA) in respect of an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The activist lawyer Aires Rodrigues brought to the notice of the High Court that the post of the Information Commissioner in the State Information Commission (SIC) had been vacant for the past one year and Chief Information Commissioner Motilal Keny was due to retire on July 27. As per the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the State Information Commission (SIC) has to be a multi-member body with the Chief Information Commissioner and at least one State Information Commissioner.
Earlier, application was filed under the RTI Act seeking information from the Goa Cricket Association (GCA). The GCA claimed that the RTI Act was not applicable to it as it had not received any financial or other assistance from the Goa Government or the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) while it was claimed that the Goa Government had granted a piece of land measuring 1,30,328 square metres in north Goa on lease for 99 years to the GCA for construction of a cricket stadium at a nominal rent of Rs. 50,000 a year along with other assistance.
Many of the regional cricket bodies like the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), and the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) affiliated to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had not objected to information being disclosed under RTI.