Kashmir News Service: Srinagar: Saturday, June 09, 2018.
All it seems
that State Information Commission has turned into a toothless tiger with
government departments rarely adhering any of its directives for implementation
of RTI Act 2009.
It has been
nine years since implementation of RTI Act 2009 in Jammu and Kashmir.
However, the
State Information Commission has expressed unhappiness over lack of
implementation of RTI Act 2009 in Jammu and Kashmir.
Official
sources told Kashmir News Service (KNS) that most government departments in
Jammu and Kashmir are in clear defiance of an important section of the J&K
Right to Information Act 2009 by either not developing their websites or not
keeping the information available on the existing one.
As per
section 4 of the RTI Act, every public authority is supposed to digitalise all
its records that are fit to be computerised and keep the same available on
network which is accessible.
However, in a
circular, the General Administration Department has pointed out that “some of
the departments are not implementing the provisions of Section 4 of the Right
to Information Act and some of them have yet not created their departmental
websites”.
As per it, the
departments are not updating their websites even though from time to time,
instructions have been issued, impressing upon all the Administrative
Secretaries, Heads of the Departments and Public Authorities of the State to
ensure effective implementation of the same.
The circular
added that all the Administrative Secretaries have been asked to share the
status related to the departmental websites with the General Administration
Department and the State Information Commission within a week.
“All such
departments who have not so far created their own departmental websites are
impressed upon to do so within a fortnight and host the requisite material on
the websites under the provisions of Jammu & Kashmir Right to Information
Act 2009 on a regular basis.”
Similarly,
the SIC has written to the heads of departments that that there have been
deficiencies, weaknesses in implementation of the Act that “deserve priority
attention”.
The SIC has
instructed the departments that they were not following the rules in implementation
of the RTI Act 2009 in the state.
The SIC has
found high incidence of public information officers “not providing” information
to the RTI applicants within the stipulated period of 30 days prescribed under
section 7 (1).
The SIC has
issued several instructions to departments while furnishing information to the
applicant under the Act.
“Insufficient
awareness about the JK RTI Act 2009 and the rules among the PIOs and first
appellate authority. Quality of orders/disposal by the PIOs and FAAs is not always
upto the mark,” the SIC has said. (KNS)