Daily Excelsior: Srinagar: Monday,
April 03, 2017.
It is now
more than 8 years since Jammu & Kashmir Right to Information Act 2009
(J&K RTI Act 2009) got enacted. It was on March 20th 2009 when State
Legislature enacted the present version of RTI Act. Even after the lapse of so
many years, Public Authorities
particularly the Government departments
have miserably failed to take this legislation seriously. There is an important
provision in RTI Act wherein suo moto or voluntary disclosure of certain
information is to be made by the public authorities. This provision is contained in section 4 (1) (b) of J&K
RTI Act 2009 & in Central RTI Act of
2005 as well . Under this section all the Public Authorities which includes
Government Departments , semi Government Departments , Public Sector
Undertakings (PSUs) , Corporations , Boards ,Commissions , Councils etc have to make proactive disclosure of all
their official orders , circulars , notices, selection list , beneficiary list
, merit list and much more . The suo moto
disclosure is to be done in order to
ensure that such information is readily available in the public domain especially through the
official websites plus making the
information public via notice boards ,
newspapers , circulars, citizen charters, booklets etc. People need not to seek such
information under RTI Act. As per J&K RTI Act 2009 the suo moto or
proactive disclosure was to be made within four months (120 days) of the
enactment of the J&K RTI Act 2009 . The
J&K RTI Act was enacted on March 20th 2009 and the Government should
have made the voluntary / suo moto disclosures by the end of July 2009,
but even till date the 80 % of the Government controlled
organizations haven’t done so which is
a clear violation of J&K RTI Act 2009.
Past intervention by SIC:
The J&K State Information Commission (SIC)
which is an institution for
implementation of Right to Information in the state tried its level best
to stress upon the Govt to implement RTI Act particularly section 4 (1) (b)
(pro active disclosure). Former State Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) G R
Sufi issued at least three dozen orders against different public authorities directing them to upload
all the information about official policies , orders , circulars , seniority
lists , beneficiaries of various Government schemes etc on their official websites under an intimation
to SIC but in-spite his orders these public authorities never implemented the orders (except a few). It is a matter of serious concern that there
are several Govt organizations who still do not have their official
websites. Govt departments who have
official websites are not being updated on regular basis. All the obsolete and
un important information is available on these websites. Except 5 to 10 public authorities most of the departmental websites are not
being updated regularly in-spite of the fact that crores of rupees from tax payers money is being been spent for creation and maintenance
of these official websites.
Recent intervention by CIC :
Newly appointed State Chief Information
Commissioner (CIC) Khurshid Ahmad Ganai in order to ensure voluntary disclosure
of information under section 4 (1) (b) of State RTI Act issued a notice
directing all the Public Authorities to
take necessary steps to make voluntary disclosure of information through
various means especially through their respective official websites by or
before June 30th.
The State Information Commission vide its
official notification No : SIC /J/15/2009 -11 /148-80 Dated 17.3.2017 has
directed the public authorities to make
proactive ( suo moto) disclosure of information under section 4 of State RTI
Act by of before June 30th or face
action. The SIC’s notification in this regard reads as:
“Whereas,
it has come to the notice of State Information Commission that large
number of Public Authorities in the state have not made suo moto disclosure of
information in terms of section 4 and
have also not taken various steps mentioned therein for the same purpose.
Now therefore in exercise of powers conferred under section 22 (5) of J&K
RTI Act 2009 , the State Information Commission makes the recommendation to all
such Public Authorities in state to take necessary steps so as to conform to
all the provisions of section 4. The State Information Commission also
recommends that action / actions may be taken and completed by or before 30th
of June 2017 to achieve such conformity”
Conclusion :
During the tenure of G R Sufi
former State Chief Information
Commissioner, lots of efforts were put to ensure digitization of
official record and updating the said
information on official websites of the
Public Authorities but in-spite
of his five year long struggle , the suo
moto disclosure of Information still remains a distant dream in Jammu &
Kashmir. This is one of the serious challenges for the State Information
Commission (SIC). Why shall a citizen file an application under RTI Act to get
a copy of beneficiary list of old age pension of his or her mohalla or a village
? Why shall a villager have to file an RTI application to know the
beneficiaries of rural housing scheme under
Indira Awas Yojna (IAY) from his
village panchayat ? Why shall a Government job
aspirant file an RTI application
to get the merit list or copies of written test papers from Public Service Commission (PSC) or
Services Selection Board (SSB) ? This type of information has to be made
proactively available by Government departments and other Public Authorities.
The fresh orders issued on the directions of
State Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) to enforce the provision of
voluntary disclosure of information is indeed a welcome step and we are hopeful
that by June 30th all the Public Authorities in J&K would adhere to this
notification. It is urged upon the Government especially the State Chief
Secretary to take this notification very seriously. He must respect the orders
of State Information Commission (SIC) which in-fact is meant for public good
and to ensure transparency and accountability within our Government
organizations.