On Tuesday, July 4th, a team from the Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Movement met with Srinagar’s Chief Information Commissioner Y K Sinha to update him on the state of RTI Act 2005 implementation in the state.
As the number of RTI requests has dropped dramatically over the last several years, a delegation headed by Dr. Raja Muzaffar Bhat, the movement’s chairman, has urged the CIC to improve its execution of the law.
Members of the RTI Movement sent a memorandum to the Chief Information Commissioner, pleading with him to address problems with the law’s application in Jammu and Kashmir. The delegation requested the CIC to improve the RTI Act’s implementation in J&K in a number of ways.
We strongly recommended that CIC Y K Sinha organise a statewide campaign of RTI education in Jammu and Kashmir, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and theatrical groups to ensure that even the most rural residents of the state are reached. After the repeal of Article 370, more than 800 central legislation became applicable in J&K, yet few people are aware of them. Although the RTI Act of 2005 has been in effect in J&K for over four years, the number of RTI petitions has sharply declined in this time due to a lack of training for designated PIOs and appellate authorities. We asked the CIC to fill these gaps, and the CIC promised to raise the problem with the government, as Dr. Raja Muzaffar put it.
While speaking with the delegation, the CIC pledged to raise concerns about online RTI application submission and proactive information disclosure in accordance with Section 4 of the RTI Act 2005. The delegation also included senior members of the J&K RTI Movement including Farooq Kuthoo, Dr. Mushtaq Khan, Shafiq Mir, Rayees Wathori, and others.
Since 2000, the J&K RTI Movement has been actively raising public awareness about the Right to Information Act (RTI) in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Dr. Raja Muzaffar affirmed that the delegation’s recommendations would be given top attention and that a formal communication would be made with the Government of India and the Government of J&K.
