Court notice to Goa over information commissioner

The Panaji bench of the Bombay High Court Tuesday issued notice to the Goa government over a plea alleging that the appointment of former bureaucrat Leena Mehendale as the chief information commissioner was illegal.

A division bench of Justice N.H. Patil and Justice U.V. Bakre asked the government to reply within two weeks.

Petitioner Aires Rodrigues alleged that Mehendale did not have a law degree as claimed by her.

"The entire selection process and appointment of Leena Mehendale as CIC was illegal and not in accordance with law," he said.

Rodrigues said the appointment was also not in consonance with the Right to Information Act.

Mehendale, a former Indian Administrative Service officer from the Maharashtra cadre, was selected for the post Sep 3.

Constant controversies over appointments to the state information commissioner has led to the body being virtually non-functional for the last one year, with no members serving on it.