Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat
Recently I went through an order of State Information Commission (SIC) dated 15.3.2018 titled Ahmad Din Lohar v/s ACD Ramban (FAA) and BDO Gool (PIO). I was shocked to note that Rural Development Department (RDD) is taking RTI law and State Information Commission (SIC) so casually that a Village Level Worker (VLW) is now asked to attend hearing before State Information Commission (SIC). I won’t only blame the Government officers particularly the First Appellate Authorities (FAAs) or the Public Information Officers (PIO) but State Information Commission (SIC) is also very much responsible for its lukewarm approach towards the callous officers especially the PIOs. In-spite of the fact that section 17 of J&K RTI Act 2009 empowers State Information Commission (SIC) to penalize the erring PIOs , the commission has been very much merciful towards them right from the day SIC got constituted in 2011. There are very good orders issued by SIC in past and even now it does so , but when it comes to penalizing the PIOs for gross violation of RTI law , State Information Commission (SIC) shows lot of tolerance which is not a good sign for SIC’s own survival. On April 1stDaily Excelsior in its editorial titled Transparency and Accountability has quoted one of the orders of SIC Commissioner Mr Mohammad Ashraf Mir wherein he stated in his order that Rural Development Department (RDD) is totally hostile to the J&K RTI Act 2009 and does not want transparency and accountability in its functioning. This order should be an eye opener not only for the senior officers of Rural Development Department but for Minister Abdul Haq Khan as well who had said RTI activists are blackmailers. He must now decide who are to be blamed, his own BDOs or poor RTI applicants who want simple information and that is not being provided to them ?
There are many public authorities who are violating State RTI Act 2009 , but among these public authorities I have noticed after going through several orders of SIC from last 5 to 6 years that Rural Development Department (RDD) is openly violating this law especially in remote areas of state Doda , Kishtwar , Ramban, Bhaderwah , Bhalessa , Poonch, Kargil, Kupwara etc. In these remote areas people are mostly illiterate and are very less aware about their rights especially about their right to information. In addition to Rural Development Department officials especially the BDOs, the officers of Revenue Department like Patwaris, Naib Tehsildars, Tehsildars and even Assistant Commissioner Revenue (ACRs) also are also not ready to share public information with people which otherwise should have been voluntarily disclosed under section 4 of J&K RTI Act 2009.
BDOs of Gool ,Drabshalla
One Ahmad Din Lohar of Gool Ramban district filed an application under State RTI Act last year in June before the Block Development Officer (BDO) Gool (now transferred). Information seeker as per my information wanted a very simple information ie population list along with the name of family members in respect of Panchayat Constituency Gool-B and Gool Parthmulla. The BDO Gool who is also the designated PIO did not provide requisite information to the applicant within stipulated time and information seeker Ahmad Din Lohar filed an appeal with Director Rural Development Department (RDD), Jammu on 10-07-2017. Director RDD Jammu on 19.7.2017 directed the ACD Ramban and BDO to provide details to Lohar but they were adamant not to share these details. Finally Lohar approached State Information Commission (SIC). When BDO and ACD were called for hearing at SIC office Jammu on 15.3.2018, both remained absent and one Rajat Sharma a poor Village Level Worker (VLW) was made the scapegoat by ADC and BDO who directed him to attend the hearing. State Information Commission (SIC) issued a very strict order in this connection and in-fact initiated penalty proceedings as well against the erring BDO namely Bahar Wani.Will this BDO be really penalized by SIC ? In past also dozens of such proceedings have been initiated but not even 5 percent of the PIOs were penalized. In a similar case one Mohammad Sharief of Drabshalla District Kishtwar wanted information about works executed under MG NREGA in Panchayat Chamoti from 2015 onwards. The poor information seeker was made to move from pillar to post by BDO Drabshalla and ACD Kishtwarand finally he too approached State Information Commission (SIC) with 2nd appeal. The SIC not only initiated penalty proceedings against the erring BDO but the BDO was asked to pay Rs 3000/- as compensation to the RTI applicant as well.
Conclusion
Few months back a Block Development Officer (BDO) in Budgam asked an RTI applicant namely Muhammad Abdullah Bhat a resident of village Naroo Budgam to pay Rs 50,000 as Xerox charges for getting information under RTI Act about some works executed in his village. Information seeker had filed an RTI application on 17.7.2017 seeking information from PIO/Block Development Officer, Budgam with regard to the execution of works in village Naroo, Budgam from 2011-12 to March, 2017. Information seeker sought list of job card holders with details of works executed, payments disbursed under MG-NREGA, CD Panchayat, 13th/14th Finance Commission etc. The information seeker filed 1st appeal but did not get justice and finally moved to SIC. The SIC in its order said that BDO Budgam (PIO) has also failed to explain how he calculated tentative cost of copying charges as Rs. 50,000/- when the information sought by the appellant pertained to just one village namely Naroo. The PIO (BDO) also did not submit the copy of the letter dated 02-08-2017 along-with the postal evidence proving that the said letter was sent/dispatched to the appellant Mohammad Abdullah .This BDO has also been issued penalty notice by SIC. From the three cases discussed in this article it is clear that not only lower rung officials of Rural Development Department (RDD) but also the senior officers of this department are trying their best to destroy the essence of Right to Information Act (RTI). The information sought by all the three RTI applicants from Gool, Drabshalla and Budgam falls under section 4 (1) (b) of J&K RTI Act 2009 ie this information should have been made available voluntarily available on the official websites of Rural Development Department (RDD) Kashmir / Jammu directorates. Infact our organization Jammu & Kashmir RTI Movement is seeking a judicial intervention on this issue i.e. Pro active disclosure of information as SIC has already issued several notices to Government to take suomoto disclosure of information.
I would appeal State Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Mr Khurshid Ahmad Ganai and State Information Commissioner Mr Mohammad Ashraf Mir to start penalizing the PIOs who are found violating RTI law and have transgressed all the limits. The aforementioned cases are fit for penalty and I am sure very soon these BDOs would be penalized which will send a signal to other Govt officers especially PIOs to be careful while disposing off RTI cases. This will make sure poor information seekers like Ahmad Din Lohar , Mohammad Sharief and Mohammad Abdullah are not made to move from pillar to post in search of their legitimate and constitutional right. In addition to it the Govt officers /PIOs will also not dare to send junior most officials of the department to appear before State Information Commission (SIC) during various case hearings in future.
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