After CIC rap, govt orders voluntary disclosures under RTI Act

Kashmir Reader: Srinagar: Wednesday, 11 February 2015.

With most of the 26 departments and authorities in the state yet to disclose voluntary information under Right to Information (RTI) Act, the government on Tuesday directed all the concerned officials to immediately ensure the disclosures as per the transparency law.

“The Administrative Secretaries, Divisional Commissioners, Heads of Departments and Deputy Commissioners are impressed to ensure that all the departments, administrative as well as line departments, disclose Information in terms of Section 4 (l)(b) of the Right to formation Act, 2009,” said M. A. Bukhari, Commissioner Secretary to the General Administration Department in an order issued here.

“(They should) ensure that their official websites are created/made functional immediately. They shall also ensure that these websites shall be updated on daily basis.”

The order has been issued after State Chief Information Commissioner shared deficiencies by different departments in implementing the provisions of Section 4 of the RTI Act 2009 which makes it binding on all authorities to disclose the information voluntarily.

On February 2 last, the CIC had shared details with the GAD about the status of different departments regarding creation of websites, disclosure under Section 4 of the RTI Act, appointment of Public Information Officer and First Appellate Authority.

The CIC has informed the GAD that many departments including Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (BOPEE), Directorate of Floriculture, Animal Husbandry, Sheep Husbandry, Cooperative department, Directors of CAPD, both Jammu and Kashmir, were not disclosing the information as per the Act.

The CIC has also highlighted that the domain name of GMC Jammu has expired on August 30 last year.

“The information, if available on the official websites, would also help in reducing the need for providing the information to the information seekers, who can easily have access to the information hosted on the website,” reads the government order.

The government said that the issue has also been highlighted on numerous occasions including meetings held under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary Iqbal Khandey.

“However, it has been observed that most of the departments are still deficient with regard to hosting the requisite information on their official websites and in some cases, the official websites are not being updated on regular basis.”

Besides, it said, some departments continue to be without the official websites, defeating the mandate of the Act for ensuring transparency and accountability in the system.

The government has directed the concerned to immediately reduce the deficiencies reflected in the statement by CIC regarding launching of website, disclosure of information under the provisions of RTI Act and appointment of PIOs and First Appellate Authorities.

Last year, the J&K High Court also issued notice to government on a petition, seeking directions to the government to comply with Section 4 of the RTI Act, 2009 within a specific time period.