Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat
Newly appointed Governor of Jammu & Kashmir S P Malik soon after assuming office in Srinagar said that his priority would be to ensure good governance in state. Good governance cannot be achieved unless citizens of state are not involved in the process that can help authorities to achieve this goal. Infact, we have laws that empower people to participate in the process of good and effective governance and seek answers from Government using these laws, but inspite of having these laws people still feel disempowered and good governance, accountability and transparency only remains a distant dream for the citizens of Jammu & Kashmir.
Last year Jammu & Kashmir Government issued a circular that empowered Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) by making it the nodal agency for implementation of sub sections (2) , (3) and (4) of section 23 of J&K RTI Act 2009. As per the order issued by the Secretary, General Administration Department (GAD), the Director Information J&K has been designated as Nodal Officer for implementation of the said provisions of the state RTI law.This order was issued on the advise of the then Chief Information Commissioner Khurshid Ahmad Ganai who is now Advisor to Governor.
In the Government order No: 1232-GAD of 2017 Dated : 26.9.2017 there is mention of sub section 2, 3 and 4 which is to be implemented by the Directorate of Information and Public Relations. On the other hand sub section 1 of the same section has been bypassed and there is no mention about it at all. Infact I brought the issue into notice of Mr Ganai soon after the order was issued.
Sub Section 1 of section 23 of J&K RTI Act 2009 is the most important provisions in the J&K RTI law as this sub section stresses on Government for RTI awareness building , training of Government officials, developing educational programmes on RTI for general public especially the disadvantaged communities. Why this sub section has been bypassed is a matter of concern for people in general and especially for the RTI activists.
Section 23 of State RTI Act
Government is under legal obligation to create awareness about Right to Information Act among general masses. Stress is given for RTI awareness among those people who belong to disadvantaged communities living in remote and underdeveloped areas of the state. It is not the duty of State Information Commission (SIC) to organize RTI awareness camps ,workshops and seminars but is the duty of Government to manage all these activities. Section 23 (1) of J&K RTI Act 2009 reads as :
“The Government may to the extent of availability of financial and resources a) develop and organize educational programmes to advance the understanding of the public , in particular of disadvantaged communities as to how to exercise the rights contemplated under the act b) encourage public authorities to participate in the development and organization of programmes referred to in clause (a) and to undertake such programmes themselves c) promote timely and effective dissemination of accurate information by public authorities about their activities d) train Public Information Officers (PIOs) of public authorities and produce relevant training material for the use of public authorities.
The Government in its order dated 26/9/2017 did not assign the awareness job to Directorate of Information but instead directed it to implement other three sub sections ie 2, 3, 4 of section 23. To implement sub section 2 of section 23, Government was supposed to prepare a user guide in urdu (official language of J&K) that would help people understand the basics of RTI Act. This guide was to be prepared within 18 months (1 ½ year) from the commencement of the J&K RTI Act 2009. It is now more than 9 years since RTI Act is enacted in J&K and the user guide on RTI is still not available . In addition to it sub section 3 & 4 focusses on publishing of RTI guidelines such as details of PIOs , First Appellate Authorities (FAAs), their office addresses, phone numbers , emails , ensuring voluntary disclosure of information by authorities and updating the same at regular intervals. Almost one year has elapsed since the order was issued and Directorate of Information assigned the job but they seem to have done nothing.
Workshops on RTI
If the Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) has been assigned the job of implementing three sub sections (2,3,4) of section 23 of J&K RTI Act 2009 , can Government clarify who will implement the sub section 1 of the same section? Even people don’t know what has DIPR done vis a vis implementation of sub sections 2, 3 and 4 of Section 23 of J&K RTI Act 2009 ? More than 9 years have elapsed since RTI law got enacted in J&K and no Government organization has been assigned the job of undertaking RTI awareness? Government claims that Institute of Management Public Administration and Rural Development (IMPARD) organizes RTI workshops for Government officers. This is true and I appreciate IMPA for its work , but how many such workshops have been organized by this institution from last 9 years ? From 2011 to 2015 around 75 workshops were conducted by IMPARD for Govt officers (FAAs and PIOs) but from last 3 years mere 3 to 4 workshops have been conducted . This was revealed by IMPARD itself before J&K High Court after our organization Jammu & Kashmir RTI Movement filed a PIL on implementation of section 23 of J&K RTI Act 2009.
Conclusion
Is IMPA creating awareness among the disadvantaged communities? If not IMPARD then who will do this job ? I raised this issue several times and recently I along with a delegation from RTI Movement met with B B Vyas Advisor to Governor. We suggested him to outsource the work to civil society groups and NGOs. He forwarded the case to Chief Secretary and we are yet to know what has been the outcome of our suggestion ? Majority of First Appellate Authorities (FAAs) under RTI law are not aware about their role. Same is the case with designated Public Information Officers (PIOs).
How can Government do all this work themselves ? Many designated FAAs who are Special Secretaries/Additional Secretaries to Government, Commissioners of various bodies, Directors, Chief Engineers, DC’s, SPs, Additional DC’s, Superintending Engineers have been reprimanded by State Information Commission (SIC) on various occasions as they were unaware about their role as First Appellate Authority (FAA). RTI is the only tool to ensure accountability and good governance in our state .If Governor Malik overhauls the institution of RTI, I am sure we will get very good results in the coming months and years. This overhauling includes filling up the vacancies in State Information Commission (SIC) ie to appoint Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and Information Commissioner as soon as possible.
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