Kashmir Times: Delhi: Saturday,
31 August 2024.
The Ministry of Home Affairs
to a Right To Information (RTI) query has underlined that the RTI Act, 2005, is
applicable to J&K. But, the fact is even after the abrogation of Article
370, five years down the lane, the Union Territory of J&K hasn’t launched
the RTI portal yet.
This happens at a time when the Union Government is making efforts to ease governance by providing various services digitally to the public.
Kerala-based RTI campaigner K. Govindan Nampoothiry, who filed the RTI query has pointed out that the UT of J&K should clarify why it hasn’t launched the RTI portal yet.
Govindan Nampoothiry on 23rd April filed an application under RTI Act before the MHA seeking the details of the amount allocated and released to states and UTs under the Disaster Response Fund from 2014 to 2024 along with utilisation.
“The CPIO and Deputy Secretary (J&K) directed me to obtain the information about utilisation and the current status of each scheme from the Govt of J&K. However, I couldn’t find a dedicated RTI portal of J&K. I am planning to approach the Central Information Commission as the MHA failed to provide specific details,” he said.
As per the RTI document, the Department of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh Affairs under the MHA in its reply dated 3rd July stated – “After the notification of the J&K Reorganization Act, 2019, the RTI Act, 2005 is applicable in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir from 31.10.2019.
Accordingly, you may obtain the information directly from the Govt of J&K under the RTI Act.”
He urged the MHA to issue a clarification on this at the earliest.
At the same time, the UT of Ladakh has set up an RTI portal (https://rtionline.ladakh.gov.in/).
This happens at a time when the Union Government is making efforts to ease governance by providing various services digitally to the public.
Kerala-based RTI campaigner K. Govindan Nampoothiry, who filed the RTI query has pointed out that the UT of J&K should clarify why it hasn’t launched the RTI portal yet.
Govindan Nampoothiry on 23rd April filed an application under RTI Act before the MHA seeking the details of the amount allocated and released to states and UTs under the Disaster Response Fund from 2014 to 2024 along with utilisation.
“The CPIO and Deputy Secretary (J&K) directed me to obtain the information about utilisation and the current status of each scheme from the Govt of J&K. However, I couldn’t find a dedicated RTI portal of J&K. I am planning to approach the Central Information Commission as the MHA failed to provide specific details,” he said.
As per the RTI document, the Department of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh Affairs under the MHA in its reply dated 3rd July stated – “After the notification of the J&K Reorganization Act, 2019, the RTI Act, 2005 is applicable in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir from 31.10.2019.
Accordingly, you may obtain the information directly from the Govt of J&K under the RTI Act.”
He urged the MHA to issue a clarification on this at the earliest.
At the same time, the UT of Ladakh has set up an RTI portal (https://rtionline.ladakh.gov.in/).
.JPG)
.JPG)
