Adhering to fixed timeline under the provisions of the RTI Act is the crux of the rationale and the purpose of the transparency law and if any deviation, mostly wilful , takes place, that is not only defeating the very purpose and the objective of an applicant seeking such information but sending messages that there was abject deficiency of transparency and systematic functioning in the concerned Government department. After all, it is not some favour being done to the applicant by furnishing the requisite information nor any of his or her grievances or reason of any aggrieving as such getting addressed and resolved but the information , ipso-facto , essentially is required to be furnished as any Indian citizen stands duly empowered in this direction. However, there have been several instances in the past where such submission has taken an inordinate delay or having been not submitted at all or even an inability expressed perhaps as an alibi in having any clue to such information. That has resulted in serious views taken by the CIC even to the levels of serving show cause notices on such authorities who were required to dispense with such information. That should have resulted in proper message reaching to all departments and offices in Jammu and Kashmir to be more particular and conscious about responding to the application by a desirous person . However, recently, non adherence of the guidelines and allowing the time limit exceed substantially has resulted in serving show cause notices on more than one authority in the UT like an Assistant Commissioner (General), a Tehsildar and a Medical Superintendent . Such notices have provisions about initiating penal action against them all.
It is , however, not only these officers having to face the music for violating provisions of the RTI Act but it results in causing embarrassment to the UT Government itself as repeated violations of an Act of Parliament by the authorities being directly dealt with by the CIC . It is to be noted that in the instant case , the RTI applications having been filed in 2018 and 2019 which remain pending and have therefore been viewed seriously . For three to four years after filing of the application, the three applicants having not received the desired information cannot be justified in any case whatsoever. The information is to be submitted within the statutory period of 30 days from the date of the receipt of the application being the elementary ingredient of the RTI Act must, by now , be fairly known to all the employees in the UT departments as also the increasing consciousness among the general public about the element of being empowered to seek whatever information needed under the said Act in time bound manner. Therefore, it entails that enough care needs to be taken in not disregarding the timeframe factor so that any apprehensions about the most important two factors of transparency and accountability in the working of the Government departments and as such the Government do not take place . That is mandatory for democracy to triumph and work in the real sense for the general public . Public Information Officer (PIO) of a public authority is the bridge between the information seeker and his right of getting the desired information.
In the cases under reference , not only inordinate delay in furnishing information was intentionally caused but even instructions of the State Information Commission were not complied with thus the entire matter falling under the purview of the section 20 of the RTI Act which has the provision of imposing penalties. As such all the three officers in the UT Administration have been asked to submit explanation about the reasons as to why penal action should not be taken against them. Caution is needed to be taken that just to get an exemption from penal action, an engineered or created information cannot be submitted but only that one which is already existing and is held by the public authority which can be in the form of a document, a statement, an opinion, an order or whatever. It is , therefore, important that the General Administrative Department makes it amply clear to all the departments and offices about the sensibilities and importance attached with the RTI Act and how information is without fail to be submitted within the timeframe and in case some penal action was initiated by the CIC for violation of guidelines , the same could be treated as gross misconduct under service Rules unless there were unavoidable reasons and justified too but made known before the statutory period of 30 days passed
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