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| Habibullah tells Public authorities | | 'Voluntarily disclose information to reduce trust deficit' | |
Kulgam, Mar 23: "Voluntary disclosure of information of immediate relevance to the people under the J&K RTI Act can go a long way in reducing the trust deficit that exists between them and the Government", said Wajahat Habibullah, former Chief Information Commissioner, Central Information Commission.
Speaking at a day-long capacity building workshop for the representatives of public authorities and civil society organisations at Kulgam, the other day, Habibullah pointed out that people's satisfaction with the levels of transparency and access to information is the only real test of the implementation of Section 4 of the J&K RTI Act.
More than a hundred senior officers designated as public information officer and first appellate authorities discussed ways and means for improving people's automatic access to official information at the workshop organised by the J&K RTI Movement and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), New Delhi.
Participants recommended the formation of a committee of senior officers of the district administration to ensure proactive information access to the people so that their need to seek information through RTI applications is progressively reduced. They also recommended the development of schemes to incentivize public authorities, particularly panchayats to make information that is not exempted by the J&K RTI Act accessible to people in a voluntary manner. They recommended that all official records and accounts, particularly relating to social development programmes such as MGNREGA, Indira Awas Yojana, pensions for widows, the elderly and the disabled be disclosed openly in Deh Majlis meetings that must be held in a regular manner. Reiterating his vision for Kulgam as a model in RTI implementation for J&K, CPI-M MLA, M. Y. Tarigami said that RTI has the potential for empowering people to participate in governance and demand their rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. The effective implementation of RTI can overcome these challenges and lay the foundation for resolving the larger problems affecting the State in the long run, he said. Dr. Syed Abid Rasheed Shah, Deputy Commissioner, Kulgam urged the officers present to pay attention to the spirit of the J&K RTI Act while implementing it instead of looking for ways to deny access to information.
Welcoming the guests of honour, Dr. Shah said that RTI users and activists should be treated with respect because RTI is part of the good governance measures and citizens must become part of the decision-making processes of the administration. He advised the PIOs against adopting an obstructionist approach to RTI applications and assured his commitment to the effective implementation of the proactive information disclosure provisions of the RTI Act.
Dr. Shaikh Ghulam Rasool, Chairman, J&K RTI Movement, urged the public authorities to take immediate steps to improve their records management systems in order to make information readily available to the people. |
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