Greater
Kashmir: Jammu: Sunday, 07 February 2016.
Asking
authorities to make pro-active disclosures about their functioning as mandated
under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, Governor NN Vohra Saturday said the
public has right to know what their rulers are doing.
“In a
democracy even without a law, the people have right to know what the rulers are
doing. They have right to know what they (rulers) are up to in terms of
systems, policy, procedures and expenditures,” Vohra said during his inaugural
address at Regional Conference on RTI here.
He said the
law has significantly contributed in reducing dishonesty in the public
functioning.
“Besides all
constitutional and legal arguments in favour of RTI Act, I feel that this legal
arrangement is contributing in reducing dishonesty,” he said.
The Governor
said several Apex Court judgments have given a constitutional pedestal to RTI
Act.
“The system
we inherited was rooted in secrecy and we need to replace it with openness and
transparency.”
“We inherited
the British procedural systems when we became free. We have made modifications
and improvements in patches but not undone the system. This system, we
inherited, was colonial and imperialistic. The system was rooted in secrecy and
non-public approach.”
“We will see
reduction in RTI applications if every institution uploads information other
than that protected by the law on their website regularly rather than waiting
for the questions being asked,” Vohra said.
“We need to
keep clear and understandable records in all government departments to ensure transparency
and accountability,” he maintained.
The Governor
said that he had the opportunity of closely observing the evolution of the
acceptance of this law in J&K.
“I compliment
(G.R.) Sufi, Chief Information Commissioner J&K, for stabilizing the functioning
of the State Information Commission despite the difficulties faced in the
initial period,” he said.
On the
occasion, former Central Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) WajahatHabibullah
trained guns on State bureaucracy for weakening the RTI Rules.
“My friends
in bureaucracy came up with specious argument that they have changed the Rules
to bring them at par with central Rules. But, the central Rules are highly
defective.”
He said
people should use the law for obtaining information from armed forces. “The
forces including Army are not exempted from the law,” he said.
He said the
Official Secrets Act should have been replaced with RTI Act but “our rulers are
hesitant to do so.”
CIC GR Sufi
said Governor N N Vohra has played a vital role in implementation of the
transparency law.
“Whenever I
faced a problem (vis-à-vis RTI law), I looked at Raj Bhavan. The Governor did
not disappoint me,” he said.
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