Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 6: Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) J&K Khurshid Ahmed Ganai today stressed the need for strict compliance to Section 4 of J&K Right to Information Act by all the Government departments so as to achieve the objective behind the landmark legislation.
Addressing a seminar on the topic “Use of RTI for development of transparent administration” organized by Department of Students Welfare, University of Jammu, Ganai said, “the compliance to Section 4 of the Act, which deals with suo-moto disclosure of information, is not up to the mark even so many years after the enactment of legislation”.
“The websites of many Government departments are not regularly updated. The websites of some departments are showing those officers who are not presently posted there”, he said and held lack of adequate knowledge about the computers and information technology as the main reason behind poor implementation of Section 4 of the Act.
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He informed the gathering that in the Central Government the departments have ensured strict compliance to the provisions relating to suo-moto disclosure of information. “In certain departments even RTI applications are received online”, he further said.
The Chief Information Commissioner highlighted each and every provision of J&K RTI Act for the information of gathering. He, however, cautioned against the misuse of the RTI Act and said, “the Commission is playing its role in discouraging those applications which are aimed at extracting personal information of the officers and officials of the Government”.
“Everyone who is desirous to make use of RTI Act for obtaining information from the Government departments should also read preamble of the Act, which says that the legislation is aimed at ensuring accountability, transparency and corruption free governance”, he advised the gathering.
Stating that due to certain reasons the Commission could not come up with annual reports, the CIC informed that annual report for 2014-15 is under preparation and will be released shortly. “The annual reports for 2015-16 and 2016-17 will be released by end of March 2018”, he added.
Prof R D Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, University of Jammu was the chief guest on the occasion and he expressed his gratitude towards CIC for making the information related to Right to Information simpler for the audience. Acknowledging the success stories and the uses of RTI, Prof Sharma stressed that the misuse of the same should be discouraged at all the quarters.
Earlier in her welcome address, Prof Satnam Kour, Dean Students Welfare informed that this month is full of events by the Department of Students Welfare and all the events such as Youth Parliament, Display Your Talent and particularly lecture by CIC are very important for the all-round development of the students, catering to their cultural and literary quotient and also making them aware about the relevant issues.
Prof S K Pandita, Chairman Campus Cultural Committee presented the vote of thanks.
Prominent among those who attended the seminar included Major Gen. (Retd.) Govardhan Singh Jamwal and Dr Rita Jitender. The programme was attended by the faculty members, employees and students of the University of Jammu and was coordinated by Sumeet Sharma.
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