STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Expressing grave concern over the fast collapsing RTI Institutions in the State, Harsh Dev Singh, Chairman JKNPP and former Minister, has blamed the BJP-PDP for making the said progressive piece of legislation in the State almost defunct.
He said that out of the three members of State Information Commission (SIC) two including CIC had retired months back and the lone Information Commissioner was due to retire within a month or so but the government had failed to initiate any process for reconstitution of the said SIC. He regretted that repeated calls from the civil Society, RTI activists and journalists for appointment of Information Commissioners and for strengthening the RTI mechanism, the State Government had failed to initiate any action thus allowing the RTI enactment to die its own death. Ridiculing the tall claims of the government of good governance, transparency and accountability, Singh observed that the single most powerful legislation on transparency was being sabotaged by the government itself. He also said that not only had the government turned a blind eye to the structural shortcomings in the Act and its implementation but had also allowed vested interests and regressive forces to defeat the path and purpose of the most potent law against corruption. He further said that the enactment of the RTI Act had generated a lot of hope amongst the common masses especially the disadvantaged sections and aggrieved citizens.
He emphasized that there were widespread expectations that traditional electoral democracy would be transformed into participative democracy.
He said that the government had also made tall claims that defective elective system would be metamorphosed and the promise of democracy actualised. He said that the people expected that the time bound provision of information under the Act would not only ensure accountability but also curb corruption. Regretting utter lack of accountability in the present dispensation coupled with growth of patronized corruption, Singh attributed the malaise to the extremely in-effective RTI mechanism in the State.
Lambasting the apathy shown by the bureaucrats and other government functionaries towards the RTI Act in the absence of stern punitive measures, Singh said that there were ample examples to show the contemptuous disregard of the RTI applications of information seekers by the said officers.
He said that there were several instances where the higher authorities and Administrative Department had been forwarding the RTI applications to hundreds of their subordinates merely to create confusion despite the onus lying upon the administrative departments and these top bureaucrats to provide the information. He said that vague replies were being given in several others cases only to evade, avoid and conceal the information. Likewise, he said, the senior officers often sheltered their subordinates despite proven instances of violation of the Act. He said that a defunct SIC further added to the confusion as a single Information Commissioner, for the entire State only amounted to a cruel joke with the SIC. Blaming the incumbent government for sabotaging the Act, Singh said that the ministers and MLAs particularly those of BJP believed that while transparency was good for others, they should be left free and unquestioned. He said that the BJP’s resistance to RTI Act became evident from the fact where one of the BJP MLAs moved a Bill in the recently concluded Assembly session for amendment of J and K RTI Act and alleged misuse of the Act by the so called “unscrupulous elements”. He claimed that the mover of the said Bill was the same MLA who called himself RTI activist before becoming MLA and had moved unlimited RTI applications against various government departments. He said that it was ironical that the same BJP MLA was new speaking of misuse of RTI when his own dirty laundry had been exposed before the public through RTI.
