Srinagar:As State Information Commission (SIC) continues to be headless which has directly hampered the use of Right to Information Act (RTI) , activists across the state particularly J&K RTI Movement has now urged upon the Government to reconstitute the Information Commission without any delay.
In a statement issued to CNS, RTI Movement has urged upon the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to fulfill her promise vis a vis strengthening RTI Act. RTI Movement has said that CM and her party PDP made lot of promises with the people of Jammu & Kashmir during 2014 assembly elections through its vision document . PDP had promised of strengthening State Information Commission (SIC) which has been constituted under the provisions of J&K RTI Act 2009. But the party which is in Govt has failed not only fulfilling its promise of strengthening Information Commission , but as on date the said commission does not even exist at all.
“In 2011 G R Sufi Chief Commissioner Income Tax Govt of India was appointed as J&K’s 1st State Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and after few months of his appointment two more Information Commissioners were appointed, namely Dr S K Sharma and Nazir Ahmad. In October 2015 Prof Sharma completed his term as Information Commissioner and retired subsequently from the post. After 4 months of his retirement G R Sufi also completed his term in Feb 2016 , thus making the State Information Commission (SIC) almost defunct. From March onwards Nazir Ahmad had been looking after the affairs of the commission all alone. During that time Government took no steps to reconstitute the commission. Legally the State Information Commission (SIC) had become defunct when Prof Sharma retired in October 2015 because as per the definition of J&K RTI Act 2009, State Information Commission (SIC) means State Chief Information Commissioner (SCIC) and two Information Commissioners (ICs) and when one of the Information Commissioners had retired, the Information Commission ceased to be called a Commission. The only serving Information Commissioner Nazir Ahmad has also completed his term of 5 year term on November 17threcently and now State Information Commission (SIC) has completely been orphaned “ said Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat Founder / Convener of RTI Movement
“We urge upon CM to call a meeting of all the stake holders and start the process of appointing CIC and other two commissioners. We hope non bureaucrats should also be given a chance to prove their mettle at SIC. If the commission is not constituted ,people will be deprived of their fundamental right and Govt would be responsible for this” said Dr Mushtaq Khan a senior member of RTI Movement.
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