Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat
To hide their misdeeds, nepotism and corrupt practices, it has now become a norm for many Government controlled organizations in J&K, especially those located in Srinagar to deny the information sought under Right to Information Act (RTI). These organizations take undue advantage of the September 2014 flood and thus deprive the citizens of this state of their right to acces information guaranteed under J&K RTI Act 2009. I am aware about several cases wherein the information seekers were told by the Public Information Officers (PIO’s) of various public authorities that their official record had been damaged in the September 2014 floods and thus information sought under RTI Act was denied. This can be true in some cases , but not in all the cases. Some cases have even landed in State Information Commission (SIC) after the information seekers filed appeal against the orders of the erring PIO’s. There are dozens of Government controlled offices where the record was not damaged at all because the flood water never entered into these buildings, but they still claim their record has been destroyed. Even if the flood waters had entered into Government buildings , the record was not fully damaged as the record was kept in first or second floor of the offices of many Govt departments.
Royal Springs Golf Course (RSGC) :
Recently I went through a news article which was shared on social networking site facebook . The news item was related to Royal Springs Golf Course (RSGC) Srinagar which is controlled by J&K Government . An information seeker who happens to be a High Court lawyer as well had sought details about revenue generated by the RSGC on account of membership fees from the last several years . In addition to it the RTI applicant wanted information about appointments made by the said Golf Course plus details of funding and grants from various sources.The information seeker had sought these details from Civil Secretariat Tourism Ministry which is the administrative department of the RSGC. The PIO of Tourism Ministry forwarded the RTI application to his counterpart ie PIO of RSGC Srinagar vide letter No: TSM/RTI-27/2015 dated : 1/7/2015.While disposing off the RTI plea , the PIO- RSGC Srinagar allegedly gave incomplete and misleading information to the RTI applicant. The RTI reply under office letter No: RSGC/PIO/2015-16/374-77 dated : 8.7.2015 reads as : “ During the devastating floods of September 2014 all the documents / records maintained by RSGC has been washed off /damaged , however w.e.f October 2014 the details of membership fees received from members as per details is given below”. Pertinent to mention that office of Royal Springs Golf Course (RSGC) Srinagar was not at all submerged in flood waters , only the water level had risen due to increased water level in Dal Lake located nearby.
Vishwa Bharti College Srinagar :
An RTI applicant namely Mir Suhail a resident of cooperative colony Peerbagh Srinagar had filed an application under RTI Act before the PIO – Vishwa Bharti Women’s Degree College Rainawari Srinagar on 9/3/2015 seeking information regarding appointment/ conferment of contractual lecturers, selection process, criteria for regularization of lecturers and qualification/ details of promotion of some officials, criteria under which Shameem Ahmad Kangoo was made Principal from 2004 to 2012, criteria for appointment of principal and details of funds received through UGC, Central and State Government etc. The information was denied and first appeal was filed by Mir Suhail on 24/4/2015 before college Principal. The information provided by the Principal ie First Appeallte Authority (FAA) was incomplete. Accordingly 2nd appeal was filed before State Information Commission (SIC) Srinagar on 18/5/2015 . The SIC issued notice to the college authorities on 17/6/2015 and in its response the counsel for V B College filed reply/response giving para-wise reply to all the queries raised by the RTI applicant. The response further stated that Vishwa Bharti Women’s Degree College Rainwari, Srinagar was inundated and remained under water for more than ten days due to devastating floods last year in the first week of September resulting in “total destruction to all the official records”. I personally happen to travel through this area quite frequently, the water level had risen near V B College but it was just one meter or so . This level increased within two days in Rainawari interiors and was not at all sudden as we witnessed in Rajbagh , Jawahar Nagar or even in Lal Chowk areas where the areas were flooded due to breaches in Jehlum embankments. The flood waters never damaged V B College records. This could be easily proved if investigated.
Conclusion:
These are not only two cases wherein the Government departments or semi Government organizations have denied information under RTI and under the pretext of floods. There are dozens of such cases wherein public authorities continue to hide their wrongdoings. It is urged upon the Government to direct the crime branch to enquire into these incidents. The Crime Branch must take up this matter with State Information Commission (SIC) also and get the details of all such public authorities who have claimed that their record got damaged during 2014 floods. The matter needs to be investigated thoroughly so that culprits are brought to book. It is the duty of SIC as well to get such cases verified so that justice is delivered and people are not denied of their legitimate Right to Information.
Feedback : muzaffar.rti@gmail.com
(The views of author are personal)
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