Sir
This refers to article ” Time to penalize Transgressors ” by Dr Raja Muzzafar Bhat (Daily Excelsior 6.4.2018) . State Information Commission has failed to institutionalize RTI in Jammu & Kashmir as hardly any Public Information Officer (PIO) is being penalized for violating the J&K RTI Act 2009. I have been going through several news articles wherein I read about SIC issuing penalty show cause notice under section 17 of RTI Act , but what happens after issuance of these notices , nobody is aware ? I believe State Information Commission (SIC) must first make voluntary disclosure of this. Mere issuing notices won’t help , Commission has a power under this Act to penalize the PIOs but the penalties are not being imposed . Government departments will not take SIC seriously unless it acts strictly against the officers who transgress the limits and violate RTI.
Yours etc….
B A Bhat
Srinagar
Follow our WhatsApp channel