GreaterKashmir.com: Shrinagar:
Friday, March 21, 2014.
March 20th
was the day when in 2009 the J&K Right to Information Act (J&K RTI Act
2009) was enacted by Jammu & Kashmir Government thus repealing the J&K
RTI amendment Act 2008. Before J&K RTI amendment Act 2008 was enacted, the PDP –Congress Government during 2004 had
enacted J&K RTI Act 2004 . After the enactment of RTI Act 2005 at national
level there was as urgent need that J&K state must have a similar RTI law
because the central RTI Act of 2005 was / is not applicable to J&K state
under article 370.
It is now
five years since J&K RTI Act 2009 is operational in Jammu & Kashmir but majority of the
people in our state are still unaware of the provisions of this legislation.
Under section 23 of J&K RTI Act 2009 the State Government is under legal
obligation to create awareness among citizens especially disadvantaged
communities of the state but not a
single such programme has been conducted by the Government from 2009 till date.
People want
to use RTI but they don’t know how to go ahead . People want information why
bad quality material is being used by Government contractors . People want
information about power , water and other related issues , but in nutshell they
have no idea about RTI . Omar Abdullah lead Government claims that they have
made great achievements by enacting new version of RTI Act (J&K RTI Act
2009) but majority of people don’t know how to use the same , what is the fun
of having such a law when the people don’t know how to use it .
Seeking
Information from Govt is a fundamental right.
Every time we
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 us to pay salaries to Government officials , Ministers , MLA ‘s etc.
The developmental works are undertaken by Government through this tax payers
money. So when we pay taxes , should we
not hold the Government accountable for what it does for us ?
Under
J&K Right to Information Act, 2009
We can seek
and receive information from any Government office be it the office of village
Panchayat , Patwari, office of the Municipal Ward Officer or even the office of
the Chief Minister. Public Information Officers (PIO’s) have been
appointed in all the offices across our state.
Every PIO has a duty to provide information so that citizens have access to Government records and documents .
In the Deputy
Commissioner's office the Additional
DC’s has been designated as PIO’s , similarly in the various Directorates the
Joint / Deputy Directors are the designated PIO's. At block and tehsil level
the BDO’s , BMO’s and Tehsildars have
been designated as PIO’s . At Civil Secretariat
level the Deputy Secretary or the Under Secretaries to the Government have been
designated as PIO’s.
Under J&K RTI Act 2009 we 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. We can Collect certified samples of
material used in public works and offices . One can Seek and receive copies of
information held in electronic format such as CDs, pendrives, computers etc.
Accessing other kind of Information
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 Indian
Postal Order , DD which should be attached with the RTI
application. If fees is paid in cash proper GR must be obtained from the Office
.
The
Information under RTI Act has to be provided as soon as application is received
by the PIO but he must not take more than 30 days to provide the said
Information.
It is better
to send RTI application via speed post to the particular Government office or it could be submitted in person also. The
speed post receipts will be treated as RTI application receipts .
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 under section 2(i) of J&K RTI Act 2009
Life &
Liberty Clause :
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, or matter relates to life and liberty ).
What to do
if we don’t 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 First Appellate Authority
(FAA) . For example if Additional DC is the PIO , then DC is the 1st Appellate
Authority . If one does not gets satisfied by the order of FAA then IInd appeal can be made in the State Information
Commission which has the powers to levy penalty upto the tune of Rs 25,000
against the PIO and initiate disciplinary action too .
Conclusion:
Seeking
information and making Government officials accountable is our fundamental
right now. The Government officials are paid salaries out of the taxes which a
common man “ Aam Aadmi “ pays while he purchases essential commodities from
market. If the salary is paid to Government officials , MLA’s , MP’s ,
Ministers from our hard earned money , why cannot we make them answerable ? Now
RTI Act has given us this right to make all of them answerable and accountable.
Let us make use of this great piece of legislation .
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