Greater Kashmir: Srinagar: Saturday,
May 06, 2017.
After recent
appointment of Mr Khurshid Ganai as
State Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), the aggrieved citizens
especially RTI information seekers, RTI campaigners and activists have got a sigh of relief. They are again
turning to the State Information Commission (SIC) by filing complaints and appeals. As there are
dozens of pending appeals and complaints before this commission it is a very difficult task for the
Chief Information Commissioner (CIC)
to dispose off these cases.
As per the
provisions of J&K RTI Act 2009 , the State Information Commission (SIC) has
to hear & dispose off 2nd appeal
within a period of 60 days. In special
cases it may be extended to another 60 days (120 days total), but in such cases SIC has to provide a reason for the delay.
SIC does not works like any other court , tribunal or Information Commissions
of other state in India where
petitioners are made to wait for years and years. This provision is not there
in Central RTI Act 2005 and that is why J&K RTI Act 2009 is much
robust than Central RTI Act 2005 for this particular
provision. There are dozens of cases
pending before SIC and if CIC disposes off even 4 to 5 cases daily , he cannot
do justice.
State
Information Commission (SIC) which is constituted under the provisions of
J&K RTI Act 2009 became defunct last year in November when SIC’s lone
Information Commissioner Mr Nazir Ahmad completed his term as Information Commissioner .Nazir Ahmad was
appointed as Information Commissioner in November 2011 soon after he retired as
Chief Engineer in J&K Public Works Department (PWD). Before his term ended
in November 2016 , Mr Ghulam Rasool Sufi , IRS completed his 5 year tenure as
State Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) in February 2016. Mr Sufi a 1977 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS)
officer served on very import posts in Central Income Tax Department prior to
his appointment as CIC. One more Information Commissioner Dr S K Sharma
completed his term in Information Commission around October 2015. Dr Sharma
before his appointment as Information Commissioner headed Law faculty in Jammu
University. There is a provision of two Information Commissioners and one Chief
Information Commissioner under J&K RTI Act 2009.
Mr Khurshid
Ahmad Ganai, who took oath of State Chief Information Commissioner on March 3rd
2017 has many challenges before him. First of all he has to dispose off dozens of
pending appeals and complaints. He needs to ensure proper implementation
of section 4 (1) (b) of J&K RTI Act 2009 wherein Govt organisations are
directed to make voluntary disclosure of
information through websites and other means . In-fact he has issued a circular
in this regard and we hope Govt acts over it. More than eight years have passed
since J&K RTI Act 2009 got enacted , but Government departments have not digitised their record
and very less information is available in public domain through websites and
other means. For simple information people have to file applications under RTI
Act which otherwise should have been proactively available on websites.
Conclusion
:
During his
RTI roundtable in Srinagar and Jammu Mr Ganai seemed very serious about RTI
implementation especially ensuring voluntary disclosure. Govt must appoint two
more Information Commissioners without any delay as all the work load is on CIC only. If two more commissioners are not appointed
within few more months , newly appointed
CIC cannot dispose off RTI appeals within a stipulated time of 60 to 120
days and this would be again a violation
of J&K RTI Act 2009. Lastly J&K RTI Act 2009 should be amended in such
way wherein a provision should be incorporated for appointment of Information
Commissioners within a specific time. As of now
even if Information Commissioner
is not appointed for years together , the RTI law is totally silent on this and
this has to be rectified by the lawmakers.
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