Srinagar, Nov 22: Appealing people to make Right to Information in J&K people’s movement, Chief Information Commissioner, G R Sufi underscored the need of creating mass awareness about this Act in every nook and corner of the state.
 Addressing a programme organized by Islamia College of Science & Commerce here, Sufi said RTI Act was a great legislation which had capacity to bring a revolution with regard to ensuring transparency and accountability in functioning of the government departments.
 He said private educational institutions who had been provided subsidized land by the state Government too come under the purview of RTI.
 “Private schools/colleges might be of this impression that they are exempted under RTI Act, but if they have received some financial assistance from Government in the shape of land or any other monetary benefits, they too come under the purview of Right to Information Act” Sufi added.
 J&K RTI Movement convener, Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat threw light on the Section 4 (1) (b) of J&K RTI Act 2009 and appealed to the public authorities to make voluntary disclosure of 17 items which had been mentioned in the State RTI Act. He also gave a brief account of some RTI success stories.
 Newly appointed Information Commissioner Nazir Ahmad, Muhammad Syed Shah Registrar of SIC, Prof Manzoor Ahmad Shah vice-principal Islamia College, M A Wani Joint Registrar SIC, Prof Khursheed Mahajan also addressed the gathering. Prof Majid of English department moderated the programme.
 At the end of the event, there was an interactive session wherein CIC responded to various questions posed by the audience which included college teachers and students.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
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