Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat
When Mushtaq Ahmad an RTI campaigner and social activist from remote Batwodder village of Chadoora tehsil of District Budgam told me that he was being denied information sought under Right to Information Act (RTI) by Govt officials for the last 6 months, I thought he would have asked for some sensitive information. But when I was told that information pertains to BPL and AAY ration card beneficiaries of a few villages in Chadoora tehsil it surprised me.
This information was actually available on e-portal of the Food Department, but the officials don’t want to provide its details to the public under their seal and signature as the e-portal beneficiary list is not acceptable to many store keepers of FCS & CA. These storekeepers have created their own kingdoms and are selling rice and wheat flour at exorbitant rates to the poorest of the poor. I had in fact written about this in detail and filed a formal complaint with the Government as well, who have identified some 7 officials who are said to have looted around 50 BPL consumers in Loopipora village of Budgam for the last 5 years by selling them Rs 3 / kg rice @ Rs 15 / kg. In this article I don’t want to discuss all that but I want to highlight the success story of voluntary disclosure under section 4 of RTI Act 2005 and official highhandedness wherein RTI applicants are made to wait for 5 to 6 months to get information.
Background
Union Home Minister Amit Shah while debating on J&K Re-organisationBill 2019 on August 5th 2019 in the Rajya Sabha said that J&K’s special status under article 370 was the root-cause of corruption. It has been almost one year since Article 370 was abrogated and J&K is directly controlled by the center. As a longtime campaigner for Right to Information (RTI) and transparency in governance in J&K, I have come to the conclusion that neither has corruption come down nor has the mis-governance been addressed. Infact Babu’s have become more corrupt and unresponsive. They neither want to be answerable to citizens nor want to be made accountable.
For the last 6 to 7 months I have been following implementation of RTI in J&K post 370 abrogation. The same is pathetic and worst because of the closure of the State Information Commission (SIC) . Govt officials believe that in absence of any elected Govt , SIC etc they are answerable to nobody. The implementation of section 4 of RTI Act 2005 by Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ministry on the other hand has exposed many wrong doing in the J&K and this has helped many poorest of the poor. Justice is yet to be delivered and we are following the case with the Government, but those who were not being provided subsidized rice are now provided the same in the areas where the RTI Movement has intervened.
Mushtaq’s RTI application
Mushtaq Ahmad filed an RTI application on 10th January 2020 before Assistant Director (AD) Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS & CA) Budgam via registered post. Assistant Directors of FCS & CA are the designated PIO’s of the department at district level. The PIO (AD FCS & CA Budgam)was supposed to provide the information as expeditiously as possible. It would have taken him 3 to 4 days to supply the details as the BPL and AAY beneficiary list is already available with him. He denied to provide the information to Mushtaq (RTI applicant).
On 9th February 2020 Mushtaq filed 1st appeal before Director FCS & CA Kashmir who is the designated First Appellate Authority (FAA). The officer could have called Mushtaq and AD Budgam within a month’s time , but he took the matter casually and after a lapse of more than 4 months the Director FCS & CA send a letter to his Assistant Director (AD) / PIO vide letter No: DFCS & CAK / Adm / B-X-347 Dated: 11.06.2020 asking him to furnish the information. This was only possible when Mushataq and our other volunteers exposed the wrongdoings of FCS & CA. It seems the Director is unaware of RTI Act 2005 as he has to dispose of 1st appeal within 30 to 45 days only. The Director would definitely say there was a lockdown announced from March 22nd , but the appeal had reached his office around 12 th February and he had 40 more days to take up the case. Even during the lockdown his office was not shut , the case could have been adjudicated through a conference call with AD Budgam (PIO) and the appellant.
Proactive disclosure
Officers of FCS & CA were of this impression that by denying information to Mushtaq their misdeeds and mismanagement won’t get exposed, but there is a proverb Man proposes God disposes. When Mushtaq was denied information of the BPL, NPHH and AAY beneficiaries he started accessing e-pds portal. Inspote of not being so educated, Mushtaq managed to get a lot of details from the e-portal. We have been urging Govt to make proactive disclosures through official websites as mandated under section 4 of RTI Act 2005 , but there is 100 % compliance of this vis a vis ration card beneficiaries.
Mushtaq and his team exposed a scam in Loolipora village. Those enlisted as BPL and Priority Households (PHH) on e-pds portal were denied the entitlement from the last 5 years. Each consumer was looted of Rs 25,000 or more in the last 5 years. We exposed this scam in Tarzoo Sopore as well where around 150 people have been looted in the last 5 years. I have filed a formal complaint in that case also and Secretary FCS & CA told me that by July 28th the probe would get completed.
Conclusion
If officials of Food Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs (FCS & CA) are under this impression that they won’t be held accountable for looting ration meant for the poor, they are wrong. We are following the case and very soon we will expose the wrongdoings in many other places. The RTI Movement is thankful to Secretary FCS & CA for his cooperation and the kind of acknowledgement he has given to our work vis a vis making the public distribution system (PDS) more transparent. This was only possible due to implementation of section 4 of RTI Act 2005 (proactive disclosure). If authorities start making voluntary disclosure of information in other public authorities , I am sure the corrupt gang of babus can’t do anything. Even if the information sought by Mushtaq is now denied that won’t have any impact as that is already available on the internet. But that doesn’t mean that we won’t follow the case. Mushtaq will soon file an appeal before the Central Information Commission (CIC) and would pray for strict action against officers of FCS & CA for grossly violating RTI Act 2005.
(The author is Founder & Chairman of J&K RTI Movement)
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