Daily Excelsior: Srinagar: Sunday,
October 09, 2016.
It is more
than 7 years now we have Jammu&
Kashmir Right to Information Act (J&K RTI Act 2009) in place in our state.
It was on March 20th 2009 when state legislature enacted the present version of
RTI law by repealing erstwhile J&K RTI Act 2004 and 2008 , enacted during
PDP Congress coalition Government led by Mufti Mohammad Syed and GhulamNabi
Azad respectively. Under J&K RTI Act 2009 there is a provision of
constitution of a State Information Commission (SIC) which has a mandate
to look into RTI related grievances .
The Commission was fully constituted after more than a year of enactment of
J&K RTI Act 2009 (Feb 2011). It was Omar Abdullah Government who in consultation with the then Leader of
Opposition Mehbooba Mufti appointed G R Sufi an Indian Revenue Service (IRS)
officer as first State Chief Information Commissioner (SCIC). After some time
two more Information Commissioners (ICs) namely Prof S K Sharma and Mr Nazir
Ahmad were also appointed by the selection panel headed by CM . Prof Sharma was
the former head of Law Deparment University of Jammu and Nazir Ahmad retired as
Chief Engineer in Public Works Department (PWD). In October 2015 Prof Sharma
completed his term as Information Commissioner and retired from the post. After
five months G R Sufi also retired in
March 2016 , thus making the State Information Commission (SIC) almost defunct.
From March onwards the Nazir Ahmad has
been looking after the affairs of the commission all alone. During this time
Government took no steps to reconstitute the commission. Legally the State Information Commission
(SIC) had become defunct when Prof Sharma retired in October 2015 because as
per the definition of J&K RTI Act
2009 , State Information Commission (SIC) means State Chief Information
Commissioner (SCIC) and two Information Commissioners (ICs) and when one of the
Information Commissioners had retired the Information Commission ceased to be a
commission. But it continued and now the only one Information Commissioner who runs the show at J&K State
Information Commission (SIC) is also retiring next month ieNovember 2016. Till
date Government has not prepared a new
panel of Chief Information Commissioner and two Commissioners , this means
State Information Commissioner (SIC) is going to be defunct from November
2016 thus giving a serious blow to RTI
Movement or RTI regime in Jammu & Kashmir.
Role of
State Information Commission (SIC) ?
State
Information Commission (SIC) is
constituted under the provisions of J&K RTI Act 2009. This
institution is the nerve center for implementation of RTI Act. When Information
seekers , individuals , citizens do not get correct information from Government
offices or any other Public Authorities, the Information Commission looks into
the grievances of such aggrieved people who file appeals and complaints before
this commission. The Information Commission has following powers:
· To direct the Public Authority to provide the information
· To make sure information seeker conducts inspection of
documents and records if needed
· To take action against the designated Public Information
Officers (PIOs) by even penalizing them for wrongdoings like withholding
information without any reason.
· Make pro active disclosure of information through
official websites
In absence of
State Information Commission (SIC) where shall these aggrieved people go ? Who
will direct the Government officers , PIO’s to provide information to public if
they deny the
same ? Who is
going to penalize the corrupt and erring officials ?
Govt
didn’t cooperate with SIC :
In past State
Information Commission (SIC) tried its best to implement and interpret J&K
RTI Act 2009, but this Commission faced lot of challenges. It is matter of
serious concern that Secretary of State
Information Commission (SIC)was prematurely transferred in October last year
and till date Government hasn’t found a suitable officer to be posted as Secretary.
From 2009 till date not a single Secretary has completed 2 years term in State
Information Commission (SIC). Secretaries
who are posted in SIC consider it as an unimportant and useless posting.
The Government hardly cooperates with functioning of SIC. In August 2012 J&K RTI Rules 2010 were repealed at
the behest of the then Chief Secretary MadhavLal who due to his personal ego
misled Government about J&K RTI
Rules not being at par with Central RTI Rules. Pertinent to mention that
MadhavLal was summoned by State Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) G R Sufi
in the Commission as Government had failed to adhere to several important
provisions of J&K RTI Act 2009. The RTI rules of 2012 curtailed the powers
of State Information Commission (SIC). The successive Government’s have prematurely transferred Secretaries of State Information Commission
(SIC). The Chief Information
Commissioner (CIC) used to be consulted prior to posting or transfer of
Secretary or any other staff members of Information Commission , but after the J&K RTI Rules 2010 , the Government
now hardly consults the CIC over these issues.
Conclusion
:
After
enactment of RTI Act in J&K there are many success stories wherein people
have been benefitted through this legislation. Today ordinary people can
question the Government authorities which wasn’t possible earlier. Poor and
oppressed people see a sigh of hope from Right to Information Act (RTI). Nazir Ahmad the lone Information Commissioner
is retiring soon and Government has no preparedness towards reconstituting the
Information Commission. It is urged upon the Government that a panel of
distinguished people not necessary that they must be former bureaucrats only
should be prepared so that we do not see a defunct Information Commission post
November 2016.
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