Daily Excelsior: Jammu: Sunday, April 29, 2018.
Even nearly
nine years after the enactment of Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act,
the First Appellate Authorities (FAAs) have remained weak link in the
implementation of transparency law in the State. Moreover, nearly 130 Public
Authorities have yet not fully complied with Section 4 of the Act, which lays
down various obligations for suo-moto disclosure of information.
This came to
the fore during the exclusive interview of Chief Information Commissioner of
J&K Khurshid Ahmed Ganai by EXCELSIOR.
As per the
figures of the State Information Commission, on an average 25,000 to 30,000
applications under Right to Information Act are received by the Public
Information Officers (PIOs) across the State every year, which is a clear
indication that people are making optimum use of the transparency law to get
information from the Public Authorities and Commission has succeeded in
generating much awareness among the people about this landmark legislation.
Similarly, on
an average 1200 to 2500 first appeals are filed every year with the First Appellate
Authorities (FAAs) by the appellants after getting incomplete or
dissatisfactory replies to their RTI applications from the PIOs.
Because of
the inability of the First Appellate Authorities to dispose of the first
appeals up to the satisfaction of the appellants on an average 500 to 750
second appeals are filed before the State Information Commission. This clearly
establishes that First Appellate Authorities have remained weak link in the
implementation of J&K RTI Act even nearly nine years after the enactment of
legislation.
Commenting on
this, the Chief Information Commissi-oner said, “this is mainly because there
is no provision of imposing penalty on the First Appellate Authorities under
the J&K RTI Act”, adding “as per the provisions of the transparency law
penalty can only be imposed on the Public Information Officers (PIOs) of the
Public Authorities”.
“First
Appellate Authority is quasi-judicial in nature and generally penalties are not
prescribed against such authorities”, the CIC said. He, however, feels that RTI
Act needs to be amended at least to make First Appellate Authorities
accountable for timely disposal of first appeals that too up to the
satisfaction of the appellants. He hoped that Government will take note of this
aspect so as to bring further improvement in the implementation of RTI Act.
In response
to a question regarding penalty proceedings initiated by the Commission against
the PIOs for their failure to implement RTI Act in letter and spirit, Ganai
said, “during the period between March 2017 and March 2018 the Commission had
initiated 46 penalty proceedings. In four cases the penalty was imposed while
as proceedings were dropped in 13 cases”, adding “penalty proceedings are going
on in 29 cases as on March 31, 2018”.
When asked
about compliance of Section 4 of the RTI Act, the Chief Information
Commissioner said, “there is marked improvement on this front and during
2016-17 around 120 Public Authorities started showing compliance to Section 4
by either developing websites or making suo-moto disclosure of the
information”. He, however, disclosed that around 130 Public Authorities have
yet not shown compliance to this vital provision of the transparency law. Of
these Public Authorities, around 90 don’t have their own websites so far.
This is
notwithstanding the fact that State Information Commission is regularly writing
to the General Administration Department on this front and the latter is
issuing circular instructions to the Public Authorities after regular
intervals.
Responding to
a question regarding establishment of RTI Cells in all the Public Authorities,
Ganai said, “such cells are yet to be established in all the offices despite
the fact that this step will pave the way for further improvement in
implementation of RTI Act”. He stressed that every office should have RTI Cell
with relevant details particularly about its manpower on the notice board for
the convenience of the public desiring to seek any sort of information.
“No doubt
training to the officers in implementation of RTI Act is being given by
Institute of Management and Public Administration but this step is required to
be initiated at the district level for effective handling and timely disposal
of applications under RTI Act”, he further stressed.
The Chief
Information Commissioner is of the opinion that if deadlines for disposal of
RTI applications are strictly adhered to by the PIOs much of the issues in the
implementation of transparency law will get resolved.
Replying to
another query, the CIC said, “I have been told that Government is on the job to
implement landmark judgments delivered by the Commission for overall good of
the public and transparency in the functioning of the Public Authorities”.
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