GreaterKashmir.com:
Srinagar: Tuesday, 16 December 2014.
More than
seven years back I had sought information under Right to Information Act (RTI)
from the office of the Director General of Border Security Force (BSF), New
Delhi regarding custodial disappearance of Mohammad Ashraf Yatoo who was an
employee of Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution Department (CAPD). Yatoo was picked up by the soldiers of BSF’s 80th Battalion from
his village Badipora in central Kashmir’s Budgam district during the village crack down on December 13th
1990. When the said information was denied to me, I finally moved a complaint
before the Central Information
Commission (CIC) New Delhi in April 2010. The matter was listed for hearing
before the CIC on July 2nd 2010. CIC had summoned the BSF’s top brass for the
hearing and I being the complainant in this high profile case was not asked to
be present in person, instead I was
asked to attend the hearing through video conferencing. Due to summer agitation
of 2010, I informed the CIC officials
about my helplessness to appear in the video conferencing which was
arranged at DC office Srinagar. The CIC could have easily listed this case for
next hearing but it didn’t and instead asked me to place my arguments
through tele conferencing . My statement
was recorded on telephone by the then Chief Information Commissioner Mr Wajahat
Habibullah. I placed my arguments about the case and the judgment was later on
given against the BSF. I am not going deep into this particular case, but I want to
highlight another aspect of the case.
Why SIC can’t
hear cases via Video Conferencing ? Jammu & Kashmir State Information
Commission (SIC) was constituted under the provisions of J&K Right to
Information Act 2009 (JK RTI Act 2009) which was enacted on March 20th 2009.
The State Information Commission (SIC) is fully operational from the last many
years with its offices at Srinagar & Jammu. The office of the Chief
Information Commissioner (CIC) is a moving office and keeps shifting with the
“durbar move “. The CIC takes up cases related to move offices, Commissions,
Civil Secretariat etc., and the other two Information Commissioners hear
complaints and appeals against Public Authorities whose offices are located in
respective divisions i.e., Srinagar / Jammu.
Under RTI Act persons belonging to Below
Poverty Line (BPL) category are exempted to pay any kind of fees. Even the Public Information Officer
(PIO) is legally bound to render all the reasonable assistance to an illiterate
person who makes the request orally and PIO has to reduce the same in writing [
see JK RTI Act 2009 section 6 (1) (b) ]. If the J&K Right to Information
Act (RTI) is so much pro-people and pro-poor why are authorities making this
law complicated thus depriving an “aam aadmi” from his Right to Information?
Why shall an
ordinary citizen from Kupwara, Kulgam, or Srinagar travel all the way to Jammu
and spend days in hotel just to attend a case of RTI related complaint or
appeal before the State Information Commission?
The people from Kathua, Samba, Doda etc., in Jammu region face similar problem
when they have to attend the RTI case hearing at Srinagar. Don’t we have video
conferencing facilities available at our SIC offices in Srinagar or Jammu? If
Central Information Commission (CIC) can take up RTI related complaints and
appeals through video and tele-conferencing, why cannot SIC avail similar
facilities of the Govt? Why is it necessary for an appellant to be present in
person during the case hearings?
Conclusion:
We have a web
of Community Information Centres (CICs) at district and block level and their
services must be utilized for arranging video conferencing for RTI related
cases. How can a poor RTI applicant belonging to BPL category or a student
afford to travel to Jammu or Srinagar to attend case hearings before the
State Information Commission (SIC) ? If
our State Government is spending crores on the development
and maintenance IT sector, then why does
it deprive its own citizens from availing the facilities available under this
sector?
(DR RAJA MUZAFFAR BHAT)
.JPG)
.JPG)
