GreaterKashmir.com:
Srinagar: Wednesday, March 20, 2013.
Today we are
completing four years of having a progressive Right to Information law in J&K in J&K. It was on this day
(March 20th 2009) when the State legislature enacted a new version of the Right
to Information Act. Four years have passed but majority of the people in our
state are still unaware about the provisions of this great law. I have prepared
a detailed article in order to make people aware about this act so that they
make use of this important law.
Why the roads
in your neighborhood are in bad shape? How much money was sanctioned and how
much spend on the repairs? How many posts fall vacant in Government offices and who is responsible for
advertising them?
What kinds of
services are you entitled to receive in Government hospitals ?
Why are you
not getting state subject certificate without paying bribe ?
Why is not
ration available at the CAPD store?
or
Why your
close relative has been illegally detained by the police?
Have you
tried to contact the government offices in the past to get answers to such
questions?
Chances are,
despite several visits you might not have received a satisfactory reply.
The situation
has changed now. Since 20th March 2009 the J&K Right to Information Act
2009 (RTI Act) is implemented all over the state of Jammu & Kashmir. All
the Government offices are duty bound to give you information about such and
other questions.
Seeking
Information from Government is a fundamental right. Every time you buy
something from a shop you pay sales tax/VAT/Excise duty etc. along with the
price of the item. Every citizen of J&K State or person living in any other
state pays tax. The Government collects
taxes from you to pay salaries to officers and undertakes developmental works
meant for your benefit. So when you pay
taxes, should you not hold the Government accountable for what it does in your
name?
Under J&K
Right to Information Act, 2009 you can seek and receive information from any
Government office be it the Panchayat office, office of the Municipal Ward
Officer or office of the Chief Minister
and even the office of the President of India.
Public
Information Officers (PIO’s) have been appointed in all the States as well as
Central Government offices to deal with RTI related applications received from
citizens.
Every PIO has
a duty to provide you access to Government records and documents .
In the Deputy
Commissioner's office the Additional DC
has been designated as PIO similarly in the various Directorates the Deputy
Directors are the designated PIO's and
even the BDO and Tehsildars have been designated as PIO’s at block and tehsil
level . At Civil Secretariat level the
Deputy Secretary or the Under Secretaries to the Government have been
designated as PIO’s.
If any
information cannot be given, the PIO has a duty to tell you the reason in
writing. As a citizen you have the right to seek and receive all information
that an MP , MLC or MLA can get from the Government.
Proactive
or Voluntary Disclosure :
Every
Government department, semi Government organization , public sector bank with
more than 50% Government share , board or a corporation should proactively or
voluntarily give you the following information. It is better to have this
information digitized and put on the website of the department.
Name,
designation, powers, duties, responsibilities and salaries of all the officers
working in that particular organization.
The decision
making procedure in all matters and the norms set for taking action on any
matter, details of all rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and guidelines
used by officers in their work.
A list of all
categories of records available in their offices.
The proposed
budget, allocation of funds and reports about their distribution. The manner of
implementation of subsidy schemes, list of beneficiaries and amount of funds
sanctioned to them.
Details of
recipients of any permit, authorization or concession issued.
Name and
designation of Public Information Officers (PIO), Assistant PIO and 1st
Appellate Authority.
All this
information should be available with the PIO. The PIO has a duty to give you
all this information on demand. There is no need to submit a written
application or pay application fees. The PIO may charge you for printouts or
photocopies.
Now
under RTI Act you have the right to :
Inspect
Government files and records and take notes and extracts
Seek and
receive certified copies of Government records
Inspect on
the spot public works such as construction of roads and buildings
Collect
certified samples of material used in public works and offices
Seek and
receive copies of information held in electronic format such as CDs, pendrives,
computers etc.
Accessing
other kind of Information;
Besides the
information that public authorities are required to give you on their own, you
have the right to seek and receive other information which may be in the form
of records, documents, memos, emails, circulars, file notes, advice, log books,
contracts, reports, papers, samples etc
You should
submit a written application along with the application fee to the PIO of the
office which may have the information you require. You may send your
application by post also.
It is not
compulsory to use pre printed forms or application formats for filing RTI
application. The PIO has a duty to receive applications written/ typed on plain
paper as well.
Application
Fees under J&K RTI Act 2009 :
Previously Rs
50 was charged as RTI application fees in J&K but now it has been slashed
to Rs 10 by the J&K Govt. The fees can be paid in shape of Rs 10 non
judicial stamp paper which should be kept attached with the RTI application or
the application could be written on this paper itself. The Photocopy fees has
been reduced from Rs 10 to Rs 2 per copy
The RTI
application fees can also be deposited through DD , Indian Postal Order (IPO)
of Rs 10. Even Rs 10 can be deposited through cash if application is given to
the PIO by hand . The receipt for Rs 10 should be taken from the PIO.
RTI
application should be send via speed post to the particular Government
office or it could be submitted in
person also. But sending it via speed post is the better option as the
officials in the Government office generally say PIO is on leave or has gone
for some official meeting etc
The PIO does
not have the power to ask you why you need the information. You have the right
to seek information without giving any explanation to any officer. One can also
inspect the documents under J&K RTI Act 2009 after giving a written
application to the PIO
The PIO has a
duty to give you a written acknowledgement upon receiving your application.
If the
information you want is not available in the public authority (office) where
the PIO is working , it is his / her duty to transfer the application within 5
days to such other public authority that is likely to have it. He should inform
you of the transfer of application in writing. You need not to pay application
fees once again
The PIO may
charge you additional fees for providing copies of records. He will inform you
of the additional fees in writing .
If you think
the additional fee charged is very high, then you have the right to seek a
review before the Appellate Authority or the relevant Information Commission.
The PIO has a duty to give you information you want or inform you in writing
why it cannot be given, if the information falls under purview of Section 8 of
JK RTI Act 2009, within 30 days. (Add 5 days if the application is transferred
from one office to other)
Life &
Liberty Clause (In cases of Human Rights violation etc) :
If the
information you have requested relates to Life and Liberty of any person then the PIO has a duty to provide the same
within 48 hours only, (example if some body is arrested by police or security
forces).
Important
point related to Human Rights Information :
One can seek
any information from Army, CRPF, BSF, Police, CID or any other security agency
if the information pertains to corruption or Human Rights violation. They may
be exempted to provide information under RTI Act but if the information
pertains to Corruption or Human Rights they have to provide the requisite
information and this is clearly mention in the J&K RTI Act 2009 and as well
as Central RTI Act 0f 2005. All the Central Government offices located in
J&K which includes Army , CRPF , BSF etc come under the purview of J&K
RTI Act 2009 and the State Information Commission has already issued a circular
in this regard.
However PIO
may refuse to give you Information under RTI
if :
Disclosure
will harm the sovereignty, integrity , security , strategic or economic
interests of the state
Disclosure
may provoke anybody to commit a crime
Disclosure
may lead to contempt of court or if any court or tribunal has ordered that the
requested information should not be disclosed.
Disclosure
may endanger the life or safety of a person
Disclosure is
likely to put obstacles in the process of investigation of crimes or arrest or
prosecution of offenders
Disclosures
will reveal the trade secrets or other similar information of commercial bodies
and harm their ability to compete with others
If it is
personal information and no public interest is served by disclosing it.
However, even
if the information you want belongs to any of these categories, the PIO has a
duty to give it to you if public interest is likely to be served better by such
disclosure
What can
you do if you do not get the information?
If the PIO
refuses to receive your RTI application, does not give the information within
the time limit, demands additional fees which you think is unreasonably high,
does not reply to your application at all, denies access to information in an
unreasonable manner, gives you false, misleading or incomplete information or
destroys the records whose copies you had requested. You have right to file an
appeal with the same public authority within 30 days. Every public authority
has appointed an officer senior in rank to the PIO as 1st Appellate Authority.
For contact details of PIO’s &
Appellate Authorities please visit the
following website of General Administration Department J&K Government www.gad.jk.nic.in and for Central Government offices
www.rti.gov.in/ministrynew
You may also
directly file a complaint under section 15 of J&K RTI Act 2009 in State
Information Commission(SIC) . In matters related to the offices under the
Central Government , file your complaint with the Central Information
Commission New Delhi (www.cic.nic.in)
In matters
related to offices under the Jammu & Kashmir Government or district
administration file your complaint with the J&K State Information
Commission(SIC) . You may also file a second appeal with the appropriate
Information Commission if you do not receive a satisfactory decision from the
Appellate Authority mentioned above.
Information
Commissions have a power of Civil Court to conduct enquiries into your
complaints / second appeals. If the PIO or any other officer is found guilty of
wrongdoing under the RTI Act, then the Information Commission may Impose a
penalty of Rs 250/- per day up to a maximum of Rs 25,000/. Also recommend
disciplinary action against any PIO who is found violating the Act.
In any appeal
or complaint case it is the PIO’s responsibility to justify why you should not
be given the information. You need not give reasons explaining why you want the
information. But you are free to argue why the information should be disclosed
in public interest.
(The
author is Kashmir based RTI Activist and founder of J&K RTI Movement
Feedback at muzaffar.rti@gmail.com. Contact No :
9419019288)
.JPG)
.JPG)
