After several years of waiting, citizens can now avail the benefits of seeking information under the Right to Information Act (RTI) through a Digital Platform from public authorities in Jammu & Kashmir. For several years, RTI campaigners have been demanding this facility in J&K but it never matured even after getting assurances, year in and year out. This author has written many articles on this issue and done a lot of advocacy for it with the Government along with my colleagues associated with the Jammu & Kashmir Right to Information Movement (RTI Movement).
Recently, the Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo while taking stock of the setting up of an online RTI portal in J&K impressed upon the officers to make all efforts to launch an online RTI portal by 10th of December this year. The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary, Finance and IT Departments; Commissioner Secretary, General Administration Department (GAD), State Informatics Officer (SIO) and other officers. The CS, while going through the plan of the NIC for setting up of Online RTI portal which is a very significant public service, urged the officers to create an end-to-end digital solution for it along with a proper digital interface for payment of application fees, and sending email as well as SMS alerts to the RTI applicants, as is the case in Central Govt Departments.
Promises made in past
With regard to launching an online RTI portal in J&K, the J&K Govt has been making promises for almost 5 years now. I remember more than 4 years back the then Secretary Information Technology J&K Govt Amit Sharma gave an assurance that “within weeks time”, the RTI portal would be launched in J&K. He made this statement publicly on Doordarshan Srinagar when this issue was being discussed. This author was also part of that panel discussion. The promise was never fulfilled. We then approached the Chief Secretary and my colleague Syed Adil from Ganderbal made a lot of communication with the Govt of India and J&K Govt on this. The delegation of RTI activists on November 3rd 2024 met with the then Chief Secretary Dr A K Mehta in Srinagar during the vigilance awareness week celebrations. The CS had assured us that online RTI would be launched soon and had given clear direction to the Secretary IT JK Govt. This didn’t happen and we couldn’t complain before CS Mehta who retired by the end of November 2023.
Constant Communication
My colleague Syed Adil continued to make constant communication with the Govt on this issue. In September this year, he received an official communication from Information Technology Department JK Govt, in response to his online grievance filed on the Samadhan Portal. The official communication dated 04.09.2024 signed by Under Secretary to Govt IT Department reads:
“With reference to your Grievance ID : GRV2024/205 dated 24.07.2024 and DLH/2024/3745 dated 9.08.2024 received on JK Samadhan Portal regarding status of implementation of online RTI services in Jammu & Kashmir. In this context it is to inform that the process of implementation of RTI portal is in active consideration and shall be implemented soon, as almost all formalities for its implementation have been completed and once GAD conveys its approval for go-ahead with regard to payment gateway, the same shall be implemented accordingly.”
In fact, some government departments had started rolling out online portals a few months back. The PWD (R&B) Department issued an order No: 273-PW (R&B) of 2024 Dated: 17.09.2024 wherein Shuaib Mohammad Naikoo Deputy Secretary was appointed as Nodal Officer for the purpose of roll out of RTI portal in J&K in PWD, R&B Department.
Training of officers
The Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, during a recent meeting regarding the launching of online RTI service in J&K advised the officers for imparting necessary training to designated Public Information Officers (PIOs) and First Appellate Authorities (FAAs). He directed the senior officers especially administrative secretaries to make sure all the PIOs and FAAs in all government departments and at the district level are well versed about the use of RTI portal so that RTI applications are disposed off swiftly.
He also asked for the necessary security audit of the portal before its launch here.
The Commissioner Secretary, GAD, Sanjeev Verma apprised the meeting about the present status of the development of this portal. He revealed that the portal is based on the software that is employed by the Department of Personnel and Training – DoPT, Govt of India. The State Informatics Office -SIO of NIC, JS Modi informed the meeting that nearly 3300 PIO/FAAs have to be on-boarded on the portal before dedicating it to the public. He made out that an end to end solution for filing of applications would be developed for the UT of Jammu & Kashmir.
Benefits of Online RTI
There are several benefits in filing an online RTI application as applicants don’t have to travel all the way to the Govt office. There is no need to buy the Indian Postal Orders (IPOs) to pay the application fees. These IPOs are hardly available in Govt offices. The PIOs cannot say that he or she hasn’t received the RTI application as digital RTI application provides the applicant with the instant receipt. The RTI portal ensures that the process of seeking information from government agencies is transparent and accountable. This is a convenient and easy way to file RTI requests. The RTI applicants can track the status of their applications in real-time. The portal provides access to information about public authorities, public information officers and appellate authorities etc. Citizens can also file first appeals online if they are not satisfied with the information provided. The applicants living below the poverty line (BPL) can file RTI applications without paying any application fee.
Conclusion
Let us hope that the promise made by Chief Secretary Mr Atal Dulloo to launch an online RTI portal by December 10th 2024 is fulfilled in letter and spirit. I remember such promises were made earlier also when the then Chief Secretary had assured that by Jan 15th 2023 the RTI would go Digital in J&K.
The Govt should undertake rigorous training programmes at district and sub division level so that all the PIOs get well versed with the online RTI portal. The services of professional IT service agencies can also be hired for this work. Lastly, I would request the Govt of India to make sure all the Union Territories (UT’s) have a dedicated State Information Commission where people would file second appeals. There is an urgent need to amend RTI Act 2005 and incorporate this provision. The RTI appellants from J&K especially suffer a lot as our State Information Commission has been shut down after article 370 was repealed. For the last 5 years we have been filing appeals in the Central Information Commission -CIC which takes years to get the decision.
- Views expressed in the article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial stance of Kashmir Observer
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