‘BDOs seem to have no regard for directions of superior officers’
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 27: In a major embarrassment for the Government, the State Information Commission (SIC) has stated that Rural Development Department is totally inimical to the Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act and doesn’t want transparency and accountability in its functioning. It has directed the top brass of the department to take steps on war footing so as to ensure openness at all the levels in the department otherwise people will draw an inference that officers have lot many things to hide.
These observations have been made by the State Information Commissioner Mohammad Ashraf Mir in the 2nd appeal filed against First Appellant Authority (FAA) and Public Information Officer (PIO) of Rural Development Department Kishtwar for denial of information regarding works executed during 2015-16 and 2016-17 in some areas of Kishtwar along with material supplied and payments made etc.
While dealing with the 2nd appeal, the State Information Commissioner had on January 15, 2018 observed, “The State Information Commission is pained to note that the PIOs of Rural Development Department at district level do not take the RTI requests seriously and not only avoid providing the replies to the RTI applicants within the period specified in the RTI Act but also not attending the hearings before the Commission when appeals are filed”.
“In a number of cases, it has also been observed by the Commission that the Block Development Officers do not respond to FAAs or the Director RDD when 1st appeals are filed by the RTI applicants. This attitude of the PIOs of RDD reflects the un-comfortability of these officers in sharing the information with the information seekers”, the SIC had further observed, adding “it is not only unbecoming of public servants but also a failure on their part to deliver the statutory duties and responsibilities under the J&K RTI Act”.
The Commission had also taken serious note of non-appearance and non-filing of counter statement to the 2nd appeal by the Block Development Officer Drabshalla and dubbed his attitude as highly undesirable, disagreeable and unacceptable. Accordingly, the Information Commission had advised Director Rural Development Department, Jammu to educate PIOs about their role and responsibilities under J&K RTI Act.
Even Director Rural Development Department, Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar and Assistant Commissioner Development Kishtwar were directed to ensure compliance of the orders of the Information Commission and provisions of the J&K RTI Act by all the PIOs of the Rural Development Department as the SIC had a very bad experience with the PIOs of this Public Authority.
However, much to the surprise of the State Information Commissioner the PIO/BDO chose not to attend the hearing in the 2nd appeal conducted few days back. Taking serious note of non-compliance to its directives issued on January 15, 2018, the SIC observed, “the disdain with which the PIO has treated the RTI request of the appellant and also the order of the Commission and the conduct which has been exhibited by the PIO in this case is not only a violation of the statutory provisions of the J&K RTI Act but also unbecoming of a Government servant much less of a PIO”.
“It appears that the concerned PIO has either no regard for the directions of his superior officers or it could be a case where the Public Authority did not pay any heed to the advisory issued by the SIC for sensitizing PIOs and making the present PIO comply with the provisions of the Act and the directions issued by the SIC”, the Information Commissioner said, adding “if such a behavior on the part of the PIOs persists in the Public Authority, the public in general would lose faith in the RTI law which was enacted with a sole aim of bringing transparency and accountability in governance”.
The Information Commissioner further observed, “it is said that sunlight is the best disinfectant but from the conduct of the PIOs of Rural Development Department particularly from Doda-Kishtwar region, it appears that the Public Authority is allergic to sunlight and the sunshine law as the RTI Act is often referred to”.
“When a PIO denies information sought by the appellant, it raises many serious questions and makes the mockery of transparency and accountability. Moreover, this indicates that the Public Authority is not at all comfortable with openness”, the SIC said.
Keeping in view the circumstances of the case in hand, the State Information Commission has directed the Directorate of Rural Development Department Jammu to pay a sum of Rs 3000 in favour of the appellant to compensate him for monetary loss suffered by him by way of expenditure on his travel to Jammu and boarding/lodging in order to pursue his appeal and also for trauma suffered by him at the hands of the PIO.
The SIC has also initiated penalty proceedings under Section 17 of the J&K RTI Act against the Block Development Officer for denying information to the appellant, which otherwise should have been disclosed suo-moto by the Public Authority on its website in terms of Section 4(1)(b) of the J&K Right to Information Act.
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