Greater Kashmir: Srinagar: Monday, June 04, 2018.
Despite the
government claims of strict adherence to Right to Information Act in the state,
it has conducted only three RTI training workshop for public information
officers (PIOs) in last three years in Jammu and Kashmir, general
administration department (GAD) has submitted in a written affidavit to the
High Court in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
The PIL filed
by Jammu and Kashmir RTI Movement through its founder Raja Muzaffar Bhat before
the J&K High Court had prayed for strict implementation of section 4 and
section 23 of J&K RTI Act 2009 under which the government is under legal
obligation to make suo moto disclosure of information and training of officers
and hold RTI awareness programmes for people living in far-flung areas of the state.
“The response
filed by the government before High Court is too confusing. We had sought
judicial intervention through a PIL on ensuring voluntary disclosure of
information by the government and
awareness programmes to be conducted for public and the government officers
under section 23 of J&K RTI Act 2009,” Bhat said, adding, “In response the
government has been tightlipped and only through IMPA details of workshops have
been obtained.”
All the DCs who were issued notice by GAD
twice have failed to respond, he said.
“We will
agitate this issue before the High Court in the next date of hearing,” he said,
adding, more than 70 RTI workshops were held in between 2011 and 2014 alone in
J&K to train the officers.
“But now it
seems the government does not want to carry RTI mission forward,” Bhat said.
“This is so strange. For disadvantaged communities not even a single workshop
has been conducted and this is open violation of section 23 of State RTI law.”
Details provided by J&K Institute of
Management Public Administration and Rural Development (IMPA & RD) to GAD
vide letter No: IMPA/Adm/R-66/18/4847 Dated 17.4.2018 says that during 2015 to
2017 five RTI training workshops were conducted in state, out of which not even
a single workshop was held in Srinagar. During these workshops several PIOs and
First Appellate Authorities (FAAs) were trained claims IMPAs letter.
“More than
seven to eight circulars and notices have been issued by the State Information Commission (SIC) from 2011
to 2018 on ensuring pro-active disclosure of information under section 4 (1)
(b) of J&K RTI Act and implementation of section 23 (training and awareness
on RTI), but the government has failed to respect these notices, this forced
J&K RTI Movement to file a PIL
before High Court,” said an TRI activist Mushtaq Khan.
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