Applicants harassed in the name of RTI fee, timelines not been followed: Shah Faesal

Srinagar, Mar 21: On the 10th anniversary on implementations of RTI act, the former IAS officer and working President of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Movement (JKPM), Dr. Shah Faesal Thursday said that there is a lot more which needs to be done when it comes to strengthening the institutions of transparency in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

In a statement issued to KNS, Dr. Shah Faesal said, “It is irony that even a decade after the enactment of JK RTI Act 2009, the level of mass awareness regarding this act is still dismal. At the same time there is a lot of resistance in the government offices to implement various clauses of this Act. Section 4(a) which deals with the voluntary disclosure of the information has not been implemented as per the spirit of the Act. Too often government officials are resorting to Section 8 and hiding the information.”

“Applicants are harassed in the name of RTI fee and time lines are not also been followed. Certain information is being denied without proper reasons. The appellate jurisdiction of the State Information Commission under the RTI Act is not being respected by the subordinate offices,” he said.

Dr. Faesal further added, “There is an urgent need to ensure that RTI Act is implemented in its true spirit, so that there is a regime of transparency and accountability in the State.”

JKPM as one of its priority items intends to implement the act in its letter and spirit and strengthen not only State Information Commission but also State Accountability commission and give it sue motto powers to deal with the cases of political corruption and the powers to investigate such cases whenever there is a complaint, Dr. Shah said.

He said JKPM will also work towards making these institutions autonomous and putting in proper procedures in place so that appointment of members of State Information Commission and State Accountability Commission is made free from political interference.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)