While it hardly needs any elucidation or clarification as to why the Right to Information Act and its various provisions need strict implementation at every stage , however, we have relentlessly been stressing upon it and highlighting how very often inordinate delays are caused in furnishing the requisite information coupled with an indifferent and carefree approach of some officers to the entire gamut of the said Transparency Law. We have also been duly reporting how matters reach the levels of the Central Information Commission (CIC) which takes serious view of the lapses committed in the process of due implementation of the RTI Act. As a natural corollary, there should have been a perceptible change in the entire process and thus instances of deviations found very rare but unfortunately the ground situation reveals no improvement instead more officers are found adopting a reckless response to the request of the applicants hence extensive delays caused so much so that even information willy-nilly is caused to be denied inviting the wrath of the CIC.
How and in the absence of stating out the compelling reasons for not being in a position to furnish the required information and that too within a reasonable time well within 30 days be construed that the officer concerned acted in good faith and without prejudice to the applicant’s right and thus one not getting the information sought from the particular department. It is really a travesty of things that information sought in early January 2018 in respect of construction of a road in one of the places in outskirts of Jammu remained not responded to and not furnished till November 2020 revealing the overall scenario of handling sensitive matters under the RTI Act in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir in more than a casual way.
Resorting to the available course to get suitable relief, the applicant in reference was constrained to approach the Central Information Commission (CIC) which has confirmed by evidential inputs like written statements etc that the “concerned Public Information Officers (PIOs) have blatantly violated provisions of the RTI Act.” as the requisite information was not provided to the applicant. Not only that, violations touched the realms of utterly disregarding orders issued by the erstwhile J&K State Information Commission. This all has led the CIC to issue a show cause notice on the concerned officers in respect of imposition of penalty as it has been established that the information sought was wilfully concealed. That is quite unexpected as it is embarrassing for the Government as well when the CIC conveys its displeasure to the UT Government.
Two similar cases of blatant violations have surfaced where the same manner and response having been employed and displayed resulting in causing unjustified and inordinate delay in furnishing information which is tantamount to concealing and not parting with the information. The applicants having finally knocked at the doors of the CIC against such non furnishing of information wherefrom show cause notices have been slapped on the concerned officers for imposing of penalties as the concerned applicants were caused to face inconvenience for more than three years and the pointed information was not furnished. It is to be seen, though quite painfully, that the number of violations, classified as wilful, are showing an increasing trend instead of the obverse and in the present case, show cause notices have been served on over a dozen of officers the implications of which hardly need any detailed analysis.
A peep into just a few past months in respect of the issue concerned reveals that more than 50 officers have been served show cause notices in Jammu and Kashmir as those were found beyond any doubt having acted not reasonably and carefully in implementation of the RTI provisions by not causing the information requested for to be furnished within the mandatory stipulated time which does not augur well for the administrative system. Either, still the nuts and bolts or the elementary provisions of the RTI Act are not made known to most of the officers and other concerned personnel working in the UT Departments/ offices/ PSUs and the like, or the records and filing system as also maintaining of critical information and related papers / records are not being done properly in offices so as to retrieve any part related to any year becoming easy to be furnished. Alternately, even if penalty is imposed by the CIC and recovered too, that aspect not being viewed seriously against the ”defaulting” officer also leads to poor implementation of the RTI Act which otherwise needs to be implemented in letter and in spirit.
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