The Government of India introduced the Right to Information (RTI) Act in 2005, considered a pivotal element in democratic governance. The Censer’s RTI Act 2005 was extended to Jammu and Kashmir on October 31, 2019, after abrogation of semi-autonomous article 370 to empower Indian citizens to request information from public authorities, thereby ensuring transparency and accountability as integral components of good governance. It has brought tangible powers in the hands of citizens and fear in the minds of officers who have a habit of doing wrongdoings and breaking the rules and regulations by means of corruption.
“Through the RTI Act, Jammu and Kashmir administration must strive to uphold a commitment to openness and accountability, fostering a culture where citizens have the right to access information held by public authorities on top priority”
The RTI Act is legally and constitutionally supported under Article 19 of the Constitution. Since its inception, citizens have utilized the RTI as a strong tool to access diverse information from public authorities, transcending barriers of caste, creed, colour, sex, and religion. It enhanced people’s participation in democratic process and strengthened participatory democracy.
Section 4 of RTI Act 2005 provides disclosure of information by each public authority. The designated public information officer can give the correct information to a person under the RTI act. As an advocate for citizen empowerment, I have been using the RTI tool past several years with an intention of transparency and accountability around the Indian states via Central RTI channels but never ever face such misuse of laws, in central or other states, we are getting the information within 10 to 15 days with proper rules but when it come to the Jammu and Kashmir, the situation is different and RTI applicants need to spend months and years to get a small piece of information about development works or other info within the line of departments’. This may be the reason for unawareness of laws, training and responsibilities of Public information and First appellate authorities’.
I initially submitted an RTI application to the Chief Education Officer (CEO) Budgam. Despite repeated attempts to inquire about the application’s status, neither the designated Public Information Officer (PIO) nor the CEO Budgam provided a positive response. Subsequently, I approached the First Appellate Authority (FAA) at the Directorate of School Education Department Kashmir. An initial hearing notice was issued for November 23, 2023, involving the applicant (Syed Adil), the CEO Budgam PIO, and the FAA himself. Unfortunately, neither the FAA nor the CEO Budgam PIO appeared on the scheduled date without clear reasons. I can understand may be both the officials were busy in their official schedules but the First Appellate Authority should inform me prior the scheduled hearing dates his unavailability which can be prevent the applicants to visit the hearing date, unfortunately both the days I visited and come back without any conclusions and end of RTI legal proceedings.
During a subsequent meeting with the legal officer at the Directorate of School Education Kashmir, I expressed my concerns and requested a virtual invitation for the next rescheduled hearing. Despite serving another notice for a hearing on December 9, 2023, with strict directives for non-compliance, both the FAA and CEO Budgam PIO were once again absent. This recurring absence raises questions about the transparency and accountability of concerned public authorities dealing with RTI, particularly in the education department. As an unemployed and highly qualified individual, the said situation incurs unnecessary huge expenses, wastes precious time and increases pendency of cases. The lack of communication about their unavailability adds only woes, anxiety and frustration to aggrieved applicants. In a recent meeting with the Former Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta, I mentioned the non-responsive and untrained public officials’ in government offices particularly in the education department dealing with RTI. For the past many years, there has been a declining number of RTI applications in Jammu and Kashmir. The main reason for the declining number of filing RTI applications in Jammu and Kashmir is due to denial of information by non-responsive public information officials, favouritism, corruption, undue bias, treating RTI applicants as second-class citizens and no fear of laws by public information officials dealing with RTI. The violation of article 21 of the constitution and the RTI Act 2005 rules intentionally by the PIO and the FAA speaks volumes of the transparency, accountability and impartiality in the all inline departments of Jammu and Kashmir but the concerned information officers who are enjoying huge salaries of taxpayers in their cosy offices but never disposing the RTI applications on time.
What could be the fate of all other RTI applicants if the Public information officers are the same in all other departments as we have observed in the education department? Are such officials not violating the fundamental rights under article 21 of the poor and weaker section of society? Are such officials not coming under dead wood who are keeping citizens away from filling RTI applications, denying information and remaining continuously absent in RTI hearings. Such recurring absence raises questions about the accountability of authorities dealing with RTI, particularly in the education department. As an unemployed and highly qualified individual, this situation incurs unnecessary expenses and wastes time. The lack of communication about their unavailability adds to the frustration.
In conclusion, RTI Act 2005 was enacted to empower citizens, achieve social justice, transparency and accountability, and to make the government accountable in all spheres but the irony is that public information officers do not implement the sunshine act due to unknown reasons in Jammu and Kashmir on ground levels. I have full faith in the LG administration of Jammu and Kashmir that they will take such matters seriously and address issues of citizens that combat corruption and reinstate accountability and transparency within the system. Additionally, for the implementation of online facilities for submitting RTI applications in the region, hope the administration will soon announce the online RTI facility as other services available in Jammu and Kashmir. By making an online facility of filing RTI applications by the administration will address the concerns of citizens promptly that will gain more faith and confidence in the RTI Act 2005.
Syed Adil
Social and RTI Activist
