Budgam, Mar 20: The State Information Commissioner (SIC), Nazir Ahmed on Tuesday urged the RTI volunteers to ask for specific information which he said was for common good. He lauded the role of RTI volunteers for creating awareness about the Act.
 “Our primary aim should be to get that information which will benefit us. There is no harm in assisting the officials to help in classifying particular pages of information other than getting loads of information which is not relevant to the query. It will save manpower as well as time of the department in providing the information,” the SIC said while addressing the seminar ‘Three years of RTI in J&K : Achievements and Challenges organized by J&K RTI Movement in collaboration with Common Wealth Human Rights Initiative(CHRI) at Sheikh-ul-Alam Hall here in central Kashmir. 
 Stressing on the need of seeking precise and particular information, the SIC said, “Supreme Court has also observed that 75 percent of resources of an office cannot be diverted to give information sought under RTI act.”
 Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, Co-Chairman J&K RTI Movement said that implementation of RTI catalyzed a system of transparency and accountability in the state, but cautioned people against misusing it.
 The Secretary J&K RTI Movement, Muhammad Ramzan said, “The RTI movement started from a small village, Branwar, later it spread to other parts of the state. We are feeling happy today that we forced government to make a strong law. It was not an easy job to make officers accountable.”
 The IAS topper, Shah Faisal, presently working as the ADC Budgam and former RTI movement member while sharing his experience as a volunteer said, “Before joining civil services, I was of the opinion that whole system is in shambles, but now I have realized that institutes are not that bad and there is lot of  scope for improvement”
 Others who spoke on the occasion were Deputy Commissioner, Budgam, Rafi Ahmed, ADC, Budgam, Muhammad Akbar, senior Journalist, Ahmed Ali Fayaz, and others.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 20 Mar 2012 18:30:00 GMT
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