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| RTI: Govt to give photocopies at Rs 10 per page | | | Early Times Special
JAMMU, August 12: The Jammu and Kashmir government has taken some significant steps towards more transparency in day-to-day governance. One of them is to upgrade the Right To Information (RTI) Act. As it is, the present RTI Act in the state bears favourable comparison with the Central law on the subject. This happened after the Omar Abdullah-led government passed RTI Act in its new avatar to redeem its electoral pledge.
On most important points, the J&K RTI Act can withstand scrutiny as efforts have been made to keep it close to the Central RTI Act. It was passed on March 20 this year but a lot needs to be done still. The most important thing that needs to be done at this juncture is the appointment of the Information Commission. The commissioners have not been appointed so far and this point was raised some days ago in Parliament as well.
The role of Information Commission is to hear appeals against denials of information and to guard the RTI. Nationwide, it has been seen that while the governments profess to be espousing openness, a large number of officials are often reluctant to provide information. In fact, they actively create impediments in the way of free flow of information. An important aspect of the RTI are the Rules pertaining to its exercise by common citizens and management regulations give broad contours, not the nitty-gritty. The Rules framed by the J&K Government are based on the Central Information Commission (CIC) regulations. There are significant differences too. One of the most glaring difference is the pegging of the RTI application fee in J&K at Rs 50. Each page of photostat will cost the applicant Rs 10 which is exorbitant. For bulk photostat copying, a good number of people in the private sector charge only 0.50 paise per page. This means if you have to get any information from the J&K government, under RTI, you will have to shell out 20 times more for photocopying than the prevailing market rate. Across the nation, most of the states charge only Re 2 per page for photostat copies of documents being requested by the citizens. The RTI application fee in most states is also only Rs 10.
For drawing a comparison, let us consider an example of a document which runs into 100 pages and a citizen moves an application for it. Anywhere else in India, the document will cost only Rs 110 (Rs 10 as application fee, plus Rs 100 for Photostat). In J&K, in contrast, it will cost Rs 1,050 at the rate of Rs 50 as application fee and Rs 10 per page for photostat copies. Certain aspects of the RTI Act, if implemented in letter and spirit, will need creation of additional infrastructure by way of trained manpower, computer networking etc. For this, a lot of money will be required and for this money, the government will have to make budgetary allocations. Several activities associated with effective implementation, including creation of awareness regarding the RTI Act, etc, will need a fair amount of funding. In the next few weeks, may be we will know which way we are headed once the commission is appointed. Of course, the J&K RTI Act looks fairly attractive on paper as provisions exist for the J&K Information Commission to take the help of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and public. This help will be sought for creating what is being referred to as indices of transparency. It is pertinent to remember here that in Transparency International’s rating, the state of J&K had figured as one of the most corrupt states anywhere in the world.
A very interesting provision in the J&K RTI Act empowers the commission to utilize the services of investigating agencies like State Vigilance Organisation (SVO) while carrying out inquiries into matters under its jurisdiction. On paper, the J&K Information Commission can recruit its own officers and outsource some of its work on the basis of public private participation (PPP) model. Work relating to computerization also can be outsourced for improving efficiency and maintaining high standards. The taste of the pudding is in eating goes a saying and the effectiveness of the RTI will be known only once the commission is appointed and the Act implemented in its entirety. A bad workman often quarrels with his tools and if the commission officials are nor independent and respected citizens, the whole exercise will be defeated, effectively.
For implementing the RTI, fairly, impartially and as an enabling tool, enabling the masses to get the requisite information in an above board manner, the government’s backing will be necessary. The way things are poised now, it is not clear whether the commission will be appointed within weeks or will take months.
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