Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Apr 3: High Court today sought response from the Government about the proper implementation of Right to Information Act in the State.
The Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar and Justice MK Hanjura while hearing PIL filed by J&K RTI Movement through its founder and chairman Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat directed the General Administration Department to furnish the details of all departments with regard to implementation of Section 4 of the Act by way of filing response to the PIL by next date of hearing.
Petitioner was present himself to attend the case while as State was represented by State counsel during the proceedings of the PIL. It may be mentioned that a Public Interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court seeking directions for proper implementation of Right to information (RTI) Act, 2009 in the State to facilitate disclosure of information by officials.
Court today, in the first instance, sought details from the Government with regard to implementation of Section-4 of the Act. Section 4 and section 23 of the Act as per the petition, categorically state that every public authority shall maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed.
The petition further added that under the RTI Act, 2009, the information shall be disclosed voluntarily for public good and awareness shall be imparted among masses under Section 23 of the Act.
Petitioner before the court stated that the preamble of the J&K RTI Act, 2009, was brought with an intention that legislature will promote transparency and accountability in public authorities in order to ensure good governance in the State.
“The authority should have all the records and should publish this information within 120 days. The information must include powers and duties of officers, procedure followed in the decision making process, rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records, all should be disclosed to general masses,” petition mentioned about the act.
Petitioner sought the intervention of the Court so that all the permissible information is made public within 120 days from the date of commencement of the Act.
“…The Act came to force on 20th March 2009 and by July 19, 2009 the authorities were expected to comply with the said provision of law. However, no information has been disclosed voluntarily by the authorities as they failed miserably in implementation of the said sections of the law”, read the petition.
Prayer has been sought before the High Court that it (court) must take cognizance of the matter so that all the permissible information is made available to the public within 120 days from the date of commencement of the Act.
Follow our WhatsApp channel