RTI Should be Appreciated: Goa CM

Panaji, Jan 12 (IANS) Despite allegations that the Right to Information (RTI) Act was being misused for extortion and harassment, the law should be appreciated in a big way, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said Monday.

Parsekar was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function organised to inaugurate the new premises of the state information commission in Panaji.

"Goa has good literacy that is why the law is being used well and should be used well. Some sections allege that the law is being used to trouble or extort. But it happens only in one or two percent of cases," Parsekar said.

He said the government was in the process of appointing two new information commissioners within a fortnight.

Parsekar said he was also contemplating giving an extension to Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Leena Mehendale if the RTI act provides such an option.

Mehendale was appointed as the CIC in October 2013 and is expected to demit office Jan 31, when she will turn 65, the upper age limit for CICs, according to the RTI act.