New Information Commissioner being posted shortly: Naeem

Daily Excelsior: Jammu: Friday, February 02, 2018.

Minister for Public Works, Naeem Akhtar today said that the State Information Commission (SIC) is functioning smoothly with the State Chief Information Commissioner and the Information Commissioner in place.

The Minister said this while replying to the discussion on a question raised by MLC Ghulam Nabi Monga.

He said the State Chief Information Commissioner and the State Information Commissioner (SIC) are appointed by the Governor on the recommendation of a committee consisting of Chief Minister as Chairperson and Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly and a Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Chief Minister as members.

The Minister informed that Sub-Section 06 of Section 12 of J&K RTI Act 2009 provides the criteria for appointment of Information Commissioners in the state. He said the State Chief Information Commissioner or Information Commissioner should not be a Member of Parliament or Member of Legislature or holding any office of profit or connected with any political party or carrying on any business or pursuing any profession.

Giving details, the Minister informed that on the recommendation of the selection committee and with the assent of Governor, Chief Information Commissioner Khursheed Ahmad Ganai (IAS) and State Information Commissioner  Mohammad Ashraf Mir have been appointed vide SRO-76 dated 27.02.2017 and SRO-427 dated 11.10.2017 respectively.

However, the proposal for appointment of other State Information Commissioner as recommended by the selection committee is under consideration before the Governor.

The Minister informed the House that the State Information Commission (SIC) is functioning smoothly and all the departments have furnished the information to the information seeker as per the stipulated time period as prescribed in the J&K RTI Act/rules and there is no pendency in the departments so far.

He said that most of the departments are fully implementing the provisions of RTI Act 2009 and the remaining are in process, by creating websites and hosting all requisite information on websites and upgrading them periodically.

Earlier, legislators Naresh Kumar Gupta and Firdous Ahmad Tak participated in the discussion and gave their suggestions to further augment its implementing process by bringing left out departments under its ambit to make the system more transparent and efficient.