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| Govt registers yet another failure | | JK awaits user guide for RTI Act | | Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Feb 22: It is almost four years now since the new version of RTI Act was enforced in JK. Under section 23 of Act, The Government is under a legal obligation to make people aware of using their right enshrined under the Act but nothing has been done to achieve the objective. How can people access information under RTI when they are not aware about this law? Instead of Government, the State Information Commission (SIC) has held few such programmes. The Chief Information Commissioner GR Sufi himself visited many far flung areas of the State and urged the people to use RTI Act. It is pertinent to mention that SIC is not bound to create such awareness. Section 23 of J&K RTI Act 2009 reads:
The Govt may to the extent of availability of financial and other resources
(a) develop and organize educational programmes to advance the understanding of the public, in particular of disadvantaged communities as how to exercise the rights contemplated under the Act
(b) encourage public authorities to participate in the development and organization of programmes referred to in clause (a) and to undertake such programmes themselves
(c) promote timely and effective dissemination of accurate information by public authorities about their activities and effective dissemination of accurate information by public authorities, about their activities and to
(d) train Public Information Officers of public authorities and produce relevant training materials for use by the public authorities and themselves
(2) The Government shall, within 18 months from the commencement of the Act, compile in the official language of the State a guide containing such information, in an easily comprehensible form and manner, as may reasonably be required by a person who wishes to exercise any right specified in the Act.
Neither the Government has prepared any user guide for the people of the State in the State's official language i.e. Urdu nor has the training material been published in English or Hindi languages. Abdul Gani Malik from Gandoh Bhalessa who is a local RTI Activist said that till date Govt has not at all conducted any awareness programme in their area. "Instead we have conducted some programmes of our own, if the RTI Act stresses upon the Govt to conduct training programme for disadvantaged communities we fail to understand that why Govt has not reached to our area," Malik added. 'Leave far flung areas the Govt hasn't conducted even one programme on RTI awareness in Srinagar or its adjoining districts,' said Shahnawaz Sultan a renowned RTI Activist from Budgam. Shahnawaz appealed the Chief Information Commissioner to intervene.
Sources say that the Information Commission is also not bothered about RTI Act implementation in the State as they have been rendered handicap after the Govt amended the State RTI Rules last year. |
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