x

Like our Facebook Page

   
Early Times Newspaper Jammu, Leading Newspaper Jammu
 
Breaking News :   Back Issues  
 
news details
Negative mindset while replying RTI
Dr. Pragya KhannaDr Raja Muzaffar Bhat4/30/2016 11:52:10 PM
From the last more than a decade I been drafting applications under Right to Information Act (RTI) to seek information from different Government departments for myself and for other people as well. Our organization has filed nearly 2000 such applications under both State and Central RTI law's and thus I have been constantly in touch with the Government departments through RTI queries and keenly observing the way Government Officers communicate and address people through their official communications while replying the RTI queries . People associated with J&K would generally show me the official documents they receive under RTI Act.
I have a habit to go through the covering letter first if in any case it is attached with the documents provided by the Public Information Officer (PIO) who is the designated officer entrusted to reply RTI queries. During this whole process I have noticed the colonial behavior of the Government officers towards the citizens. These officers are called " Public Servants " and the citizens are so called "Masters" in a democratic setup. This servant and master stuff is just limited just to the books of constitution and law while as situation is different on the ground.
Colonial Mindset of Babus :
Before the enactment of Right to Information Act (RTI) both at Central as well as State level , there was very less official communication between a Government office and a common man or " Aam Aadmi" . It was only after the enactment of RTI Act the official communication between Government offices / Government Officers and the common citizens witnessed a sudden rise .
The common citizens hundreds in numbers file RTI applications across India on daily basis and as per our Information at an average 30 to 50 RTI applications are filed on a one single day in Jammu & Kashmir state. This means thousands of applications are replied back by the Government departments . But one feels so sad to see the attitude of our Public Servants , Government Officers or Babus towards the citizens . Inspite of the fact that it is 5th year of new RTI law in J&K we still get complaints that Government offices don't reply RTI applicants .
If the RTI application is answered we see In most of the cases the Government Officers / PIO's hardly keep a covering letter attached with the Information send to an RTI applicant . In my opinion such officers feel that it challenges their prestige to write or address an ordinary poor man .
I have many instances wherein poor and ordinary information seekers from many rural areas of Budgam , Shopian , Doda , Baramulla , Bandipora were provided one or two paged information under RTI Act which actually should have been in dozens and that too incomplete and misleading. These cases we witness mostly in the offices of Block Development Officers (BDO's).
Earlier the BDO's hardly used to attach a covering letter with the RTI information and It was only after our intervention that such things have changed now . But now we have observed another cheap mindset of some Government officers. While addressing the RTI applicant , they simply write applicant's name and do not mention " Dear Sir " etc nor mention Yours Sincerely or Yours Faithfully at the bottom of the letter . Is this the official letter ?
Official letter drafting procedure :
According to official norms prescribed by various State Government's as well as Government of India (Ministry of Personnel & Institute of Secretariat Training ) an official Government letter is composed of the following parts , even if it is addressed to a common man
a) Letter Head : This bears the name of the Government of the State and that of the Department and Branch in case of the Secretariat. In other cases the name of the office.
b) File number and date of communication
c) Name / organization of Sender
d) Name / designation of the addressee.
e) Subject and Reference : The subject will be written in clear terms
and will be brief. It will indicate generally the contents of the letter.
f) Salutation : If addressing to official authorities, one must begin with the salutation Sir, and those addressed to non-official individual or groups of individuals with Dear Sir / Sirs.
Those addressed to firms will begin with the salutation Dear Sirs. Official Government letter must end with the subscription " Yours faithfully " followed by the signature and designation of the person signing the letter.
Tailpiece :
All the things mentioned above clearly indicates that the Government officer if addressing a letter to a Common citizen , the officer must begin with Salutations " Dear Sir" and end with subscription " Yours faithfully ". But do our officers know all this ? They feel it challenges their dignity and so called self respect if they address a common man with Dear Sir or write yours faithfully at the end . I have may official RTI covering letters with me and among them 99 % letters do not mention Dear Sir or Sir . Even there are many which even do not mention yours sincerely / faithfully . As I use prefix Dr before my name so the Government officers (PIO's) feel I am some one superior and while addressing me through RTI letters they do mention yours sincerely or yours faithfully at the end , but in 90 % cases the officials never mentioned sir or dear sir . The Government officers especially those appointed in late 70's and early 80 's due to their colonial mindset as it was with their predecessors feel that Dear Sir or Yours faithfully is the prerogative of Government officers only and an ordinary citizen is just an ordinary man who is considered a second class citizen by many Government officers .
But I am not critical of all Government officers / officials . There are many officers who are even IAS & KAS officers but their mindset is totally different. My ordinary, poor associates (RTI Activists) get RTI replies from various Central Government offices at New Delhi but they hardly forget to mention dear sir or yours faithfully.
Bashir Ahmad Malik who is labourer from Khag Budgam was so respectfully addressed can one believe by whom ? the office of Prime Minister of India (PMO) where he had filed an application under RTI to seek details of PM's official visits and expenditure incurred on it.
The PIO in PMO is a Secretary level officer of our State Government and his attitude was overwhelming but when some officer of the State Government has to address Bashir through an official communiqué , they think several times how to address him ? Can we change this attitude ?
Author is Founder of J&K RTI Movement
  Share This News with Your Friends on Social Network  
  Comment on this Story  
 
 
 
Early Times Android App
STOCK UPDATE
  
BSE Sensex
NSE Nifty
 
CRICKET UPDATE
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
Home About Us Top Stories Local News National News Sports News Opinion Editorial ET Cetra Advertise with Us ET E-paper
 
 
J&K RELATED WEBSITES
J&K Govt. Official website
Jammu Kashmir Tourism
JKTDC
Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine Board
Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board
Shri Shiv Khori Shrine Board
UTILITY
Train Enquiry
IRCTC
Matavaishnodevi
BSNL
Jammu Kashmir Bank
State Bank of India
PUBLIC INTEREST
Passport Department
Income Tax Department
JK CAMPA
JK GAD
IT Education
Web Site Design Services
EDUCATION
Jammu University
Jammu University Results
JKBOSE
Kashmir University
IGNOU Jammu Center
SMVDU