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| 'Death' of RTI in J&K: Activists seek CM's intervenention | | |
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Apr 9: As State Information Commission (SIC) continues to be almost defunct , several RTI activists across State have appealed Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to appoint State Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and one Information Commissioner (IC) without any further delay so that Right to Information (RTI) does not dies its own death in State.
The SIC as on date is without State Chief Information Commission (CIC) and Information Commissioner (IC) as the posts fell vacant in February 2016 and October 2015 respectively. GR Sufi who retired as State Chief Information Commissioner had earlier said that RTI will die its own death if State Information Commission (SIC) is not constituted as soon as possible. Sufi while speaking at seminar at Central University of Kashmir organised to commemorate 7 years of Jammu & Kashmir RTI Act 2009 had said that constitution of SIC was very essential for ensuring good governance.
Former CIC GR Sufi had earlier revealed that he spoke to Government several times to appoint Information Commissioner after Dr SK Sharma retired from the Information Commission last year in October.
"After retirement of State Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) G R Sufi and Dr SK Sharma, the State Information Commission (SIC) has almost become defunct and this is creating a big hurdle for non implementation of RTI Act. We appeal Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti for her immediate intervention so that these vacancies are filled as soon as possible" said Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat of J&K RTI Movement.
"Under the provisions of J&K RTI Act 2009 the Information Commissioners and Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) can only be appointed by the Governor when the selection committee consisting of CM , Leader of Opposition , and one Cabinet Minister nominated by CM recommends the suitable candidate. It was not possible few months back, but now we have an elected Government in J&K and CM must take steps to fully constitute the State Information Commission " Dr Muzaffar added.
"It is very sad that the elected Government could not shortlist the names of probable Information Commissioners after Dr SK Sharma retired in October 2015. They had almost 3 months until death of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to appoint new Information Commissioner. Now it is very difficult to say how to handle this situation as State is put under Governor’s rule" said Balvinder Singh Convener of Jammu based Sangharsh RTI Movement.
Pertinent to mention that Supreme Court's double bench comprising Justices JS Khehar and C Nagappan while disposing off a petition few months back said that it has already granted the time sought by the Centre, which should appoint the Information Commissioner (ICs) in Central Information Commission New Delhi. The bench was hearing the plea of the Central Government filed against the November 6 Delhi High Court order asking it to appoint three Information Commissioners at Central Information Commission New Delhi . The Delhi High Court had also asked the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to fill up the vacancies within 6 weeks from among the 553 applications received by it in response to two notifications issued in 2014 as the vacant posts have led to a massive backlog of cases. |
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