Thaindian News

Panaji, Aug 25 (IANS) In a bizarre incident, a senior civic officer has filed a police complaint against a Right to Information (RTI) activist claiming that the latter has been “paralysing” his office with RTI applications.

In a complaint filed with the Mapusa police station, Hanumant Toraskar, chief officer of the Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC), Friday said Deepak Gadekar had been filing RTIs with the council, “even though he is not a resident of the town”.

Mapusa is located approximately 15 km north of Panaji.

“Many a times he is found paralysing this office by way of RTI,” Toraskar’s complaint reads.

According to Gadekar, who has in the past exposed several illegalities within the MMC and the state police, has claimed that filing of RTI was his right and that council officials were scared of the probing RTI queries.

Gadekar, who has filed several dozen RTI applications, has, however, claimed that the complaint to the police was meant to deter him from filing RTI applications with the civic authority.

“The said chief officer of Mapusa Municipal council has been trying to avoid the undersigned complainant from getting access to the information requested under Right to Information Act,” Gadekar has claimed in response to Toraskar’s complaint.

An official attached to the Mapusa police station, however, Saturday said the police were conducting preliminary inquiries into the incident and that a first information report had not been filed against the RTI activist yet.