| Committee submits report to Govt, recommends Central RTI Act | | Fate of transparency in J&K | | Avinash Azad
Early times report
Jammu, Dec 28: Soon the Central Right to Information Act will be implemented in the Union Territory of J&K, as number of seconds appeal under the erstwhile J&K RTI Act 2009 was increasing with each passing day after State Information Commission on 24th October 2019. A high-level committee constituted by the government has submitted its report and most likely the Central RTI Act will implement in the first of week January, as New Year gift for RTI activists.
The committee which was constituted on 28th November this year, after “examining the issues relating to Right to Information Act” has submitted its report to J&K Government on 26th December 2019 for further actions.
“The four members committee headed by administrative Secretary, General Administration Department as Chairman, Administrative Secretary, Department of Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs, Representative of the Finance Department, Additional Secretary GAD and a co-opted member by the Chairman of the Committee as members, have submitted its report”, they said.
The committee according to sources has recommended a separate Information Commissioner for the Union Territory of J&K, under the Central Information Act. “Soon, possibly in the first week of January, further arrangements will be made to avoid any more delay in the disposal of pending cases under the J&K RTI Act and fresh ones as well”, sources said, adding that the Lt. General UT J&K, Girish Chandra Murmu is very much dedicated to transparency in the functioning of government. “The LG has also wanted to strengthen the watchdogs with the weapon of transparency (RTI Act)”, they added.
“Thousands of second appeals and complaints were pending with the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir State Information Commission’s Right to Information (RTI) Act will be dealt with by the Central Information Commission (CIC) once the order is issued.
“As per the recommendation of the committee soon the public authorities will designate it's Public Information Officer (PIO) or the Assistant Public Information Officer (APIO) under Central Information Act”, they said.
Since winding up of SIC information seekers were approaching General Administration Department as the entire record of SIC was shifted to GAD. The move comes as Jammu and Kashmir State was divided into two union territories Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh with effect from October 31, 2019.
Secretary JKGAD, Farooq Lone who was chairperson of the committee said that the committee has submitted its report to the government, soon further order will be issued by the government. |
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