J&K SIC refuses to give information to the applicant
Chairman J&K RTI Foundation, Er. Irfan Banka, filed three applications in the commission since July this year and is disappointed over the lackadaisical approach of the Commission towards RTI.
Srinagar—
Jammu and Kashmir State Information Commission, which is the RTI Head for the
state and decides the second appeals and Complaints under J&K RTI Act 2009
is itself caught on back foot.
Chairman
J&K RTI Foundation, Er. Irfan Banka, filed three applications in the
commission since July this year and is disappointed over the lackadaisical
approach of the Commission towards RTI.
An application
asking for information under RTI vide No. JKRTIF/RA/2017/110 Dated: 31/07/2017
was filed in J&K SIC by Er. Irfan Banka on 01-08-2017 through India Post
which has not been replied till now.
According to
the Section 7(2) of the J&K RTI Act 2009, if the PIO fails to give you a
decision notice, then this is regarded as a “deemed refusal”.
“In case of
many other Public Authorities including Department of Education and Department
of Health Services
we have met deemed refusal, but when the Commission does it, it is a grave
situation”, says Er. Irfan Banka, Chairman J&K RTI Foundation.
Another
application vide number JKRTIF/RA/2017/114 Dated September 15, 2017 was also
filed in the Commission on 15/09/2017 through India Post which was received by
the PIO of the Commission on 20.09.2017, but the same was not entertained by
the Commission on the grounds that it was dispatched with an old postal order
of Rs 10.
Er. Irfan
Banka further said that: “The information sought was required for a national
report on RTI published by TII on 12th of October 2017, but unlike other Public
Authorities the Commission did not inform us and rejected the application. I
filed the sameRTI application again with a new postal order enclosed. The
intention this time was to see why the Commission being the highest appellate
authority under RTI rejected the application without asking for clearing
discrepancies? Rejecting the application on these flimsy grounds without assisting
the applicant is a technical deny of information. Normally, the PIO cannot
reject application as such, he/she must send intimation to the applicant for
clearing discrepancies and assist him in this regard and then exclude the
intervening time from the 30 day time limit for providing information”.
J&K
State Information Commission this time has to enquire into the complaint
against itself under Section 15(1)(b) of the J&KRTI Act 2009 which says “…
it shall be the duty of the State Information Commission to receive and enquire
into a complaint from any person who has been refused access to any information
requested under the Act”. Apart from imposing penalties or recommending
disciplinary action against a PIO, the J&K State Information Commission can
give recommendations to public authorities to improve compliance with the
provisions of the J&K RTI Act.
J&K RTI
Foundation has been time and again hailing the role of Chief Information
Commissioner Khursheed Ahmad Ganaie for the promotion of RTI in the state.
“We have seen for the
first time that the Commission is conducting round tables and seminars on RTI
with enthusiasm on regular basis where RTI activists are open to share their
views. Orders and notification of Chief Information Commissioner for the promotion
of RTI are quite appreciable,” he said.
Links where the story was published till date:
- http://jknn.net/information-
commission-denies-information- applicant-alleges-chairman- rti-foundation/ - https://kashmirobserver.net/
2017/local-news/sic-denies- information-applicant-25252? utm_source=ob&utm_medium=ko - http://cnskashmir.com/2017/11/
04/information-commission- denies-information-applicant- alleges-chairman-rti- foundation/ - http://www.fastkashmir.com/
2017/11/information- commission-denies-information- to-applicant-alleges-chairman- rti-foundation/ 
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