Right to Information Act was passed in 2009. The main purpose was to empower people so that they know the status quo of their cases and also the policy of the Government in various administrative matters of public interests. Policy planners thought this could be one of the means of empowering the people and inciting them to take active part in the national building status. It appears that there were good intentions behind the implementation of this mechanism. We were among the segment of citizenry that hailed this Act as a landmark step in bringing home to political leadership as well as administration that people have to be empowered to the extent that they can ask any information and the Government will provide the same as defined by the clauses of the Act.
The old saying is that the taste of pudding is in eating. It is not enough to make a law or an Act and then leave it there where it lay. The Act when passed must be activated meaning that its impact should be felt by the interested parties. The ground reality is that there are many complaints from people that despite approaching the Commission for specific information, they are hoodwinked by either giving a website which would not open or referring them to a third agency, which is non-functional. At the same time the State Information Commission which has come into being on the basis of the Act is among the primary complainants accusing the Government for non-cooperation in the task of making the RTI Act active and kicking. The State Information Commission has sent several reminders to the General Administrative Department asking it to send in the Action Taken Report (ATR) on various RTI cases referred to it over a period of time. In particular, the Commission has noted that compliance with Section 4(1) (b) of the J&K RTI Act continues to be poor even eight years after the enactment of legislation. The objective is to ensure transparent, accountable and corruption free governance. The directives for strict implementation of Section 4 of the J&K RTI Act, 2009 pertaining to mandatory and suo-moto disclosure of information by the Public Authorities have been issued by the Chief Information Commissioner Khurshid A Ganai while dealing with two complaints submitted under Section 15(1)(f) of the J&K RTI Act, 2009. The point is that public authority is empowered by the Act to suo moto disclosure of information but how many cases are there where a public authority has explained and expounded the implication of this piece of legislation. The Act does not like that information of a particular question or enquiry is to be withheld from the media or any other agency. SIC is of the opinion that even GD is not well apprised of some vital sections of the Act including the Section 4(1) (b) dealing with suo moto powers. It is feared that non compliance with the directives issued from time by the SIC in accordance with the stipulations of the Act could cause much harm to the very purpose of installing the Act and the Commission. The purpose of the Act should not be allowed to go defunct. There is also scope and need of streamlining the functionality of the Information Commission. The Commission has further emphasized on the need to devise and install a system in all Government offices and with all the Public Information Officers to enable receipt of RTI applications electronically and for giving electronically generated receipts so as to track the movement of applications at regular intervals.
We regret to say that the spirit of RTI has not been caught by the administrative machinery and as such there is little realization of how important the mechanism is for streamlining administration of a vast country and a state. The prejudice and ill will against a complainant reminds us of colonial period when the supplicant had to become a wretched personality and beg for humane treatment of his case. Times have changed and our administrative structure has to be remodelled to be well prepared to meet current needs of the people at large. State Information Commission has not to be made a supplicating body. It must use its genuine powers and authority,
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