After the recent amendments to Right to Information Act2005, some unscrupulous Government officials are trying their best to misleadpeople especially the RTI applicants living in remote areas of J&K state.This piece is aimed at clearing the confusion among people and Governmentofficials both. I am getting phone calls from several places of state wheresome corrupt Government officials are spreading rumors that RTI Act has beenabolished by Modi Government. For information of people I want to make it clearthat RTI law has neither been abolished nor repealed but it has been bitamended. The said amendment is not going to hamper people from seekinginformation from Government offices as the amendment is concerned with tenure,salary and stature of Information Commissioners at center and states exceptJ&K. For information of people I want to reiterate that RTI Act 2005(central law) is not applicable to Jammu & Kashmir state as we have our ownRTI law called J&K RTI Act 2009. So Government offices under control ofJ&K Government won’t be affected by the recent amendments.
Case study from Doda
Few days back I got a phone call from an information seeker,namely Mohammad Tayyab Ganai a resident of village Jangwar Tehsil PhagsooDistrict Doda. Tayyab had filed an application in the office of Sub DivisionalMagistrate (SDM) Thathri to seek details of compensation provided to peopleaffected by a PMGSY road project.Information seeker wanted to get details of compensation for road project fromThathri to Dadi Kathwara. The SDMforwarded the RTI application to local Tehil office. When Tayyab tried tocontact the in-charge official of RTI section in Tehsil office Thathri who is aGirdawar in Revenue Department, the official misled the information seeker bytelling him ” Modi ne RTI khatam kar diyaa hai . Abb koi Information nahemilaygee” (RTI has been revoked by Modi, now you can’t get any information).Tayyab being a smart guy asked for the Government order, which the Girdawarcould not produce. “This is happeningwith an educated man like me, what can we expect from such officials when poordisadvantaged and illiterate come to their office to seek information underRTI,” Tayyab told me on phone
Recent amendment in RTI Act
Under the recent amendments in RTI Act 2005, the law has notbeen revoked or repealed at all. The provision of penalty still exists.Opposition still has a role in selection of Information Commissioners. Theamendments have affected the role of Information Commission but this won’taffect J&K State Information Commission (SIC) at all as RTI Act 2005 is notapplicable to us. We have our own RTI law in operation from 2009 called J&KRTI Act 2009. Under new amendmentsinformation seekers can very much seek information under even central RTI Act 2005.Only thing is that there is a fixed tenure, rank / status and remuneration ofInformation Commissioners which will now be decided by Govt of India .
Under RTI Act 2005 Chief Information Commissioner andInformation Commissioners of Central and State Information Commissions had afixed term of five years or max upper age limit of 65 years. The new amendmentis aimed at changing this fixed tenureas term “for such term as may be prescribed by the Central Government”has been incorporated.
Conclusion
Government of J&K particularly the GeneralAdministration Department (GAD) must issue an official statement and cleardoubts about recent RTI amendment so that people living in J&K are notmislead by vested interested people. An official circular must be issued askingGovernment officials to desist from misleading people by spreading rumours thatRTI law has been revoked. J&K RTI Act 2009 is very much safe and secure asthe recent amendments are not applicable to offices under control of J&KGovernment.
Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat is Founder & Chairman of J&KRTI Movement