J & K : RTI Chief Snubbed by CM's Office

CM Secretariat Snubs  RTI Chief

 “CM Secretariat  Mum over Sufi’s Suggestion”                       

                                                                                                                                               

Jammu, 29/Apr/2014:   Chief Minister’s Office  has snubbed Chief          Information Commissioner  GR Sufi by not responding  to his DO letter                                for over           more than four months GR Sufi, the Chief Information            Commissioner on 26/Dec/2013 has written a DO Letter  ( Demi official ) to         Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and surprisingly the Chief Minister’s office had      not                  only given  no response  to the letter but even did not  bother to       send any  acknowledgement note                which is normally  issued whenever they           receive any communication from a                      political dignitary or persons          occupying important position like a commissioner  of a statuary body or chairman of            a Board.

Though the Commission itself refused to share the  full contents of the                  letter written by Jammu and Kashmir State Chief Information Commisisoner GR Sufi to RTI applicant stating it as ‘personal information’ and only a portion of it was released by the Public Information Officer of the                                               Commission in response to an RTI application of the RTI activist Raman   Sharma and rest of the information was denied citing it as personal information having  no relationship to any public activity quoting section 8(i) of the JK RTI Act 2009. In the RTI reply commission has informed the applicant that the letter was sent through courier but no response or acknowledgement has been received by it from the CMO.

However , in his letter dated 26/Dec/2013, Chief Information Commissioner GR Sufi       has requested the Chief Minister to direct the Secretary,  General  Administration department to have an interaction with the State information           Commission to initiate the process of reviving Right to Information Rules             (2010) which were amended and replaced  in the year           2012 by issuing an SRO no 279.   

Through letter Sufi had expressed his displeasure over the amendments in the RTI Rules  and  have submitted   “ Unfortunately these rules were abruptly repealed on the main plank of brining the rules at par with central rules”.   “This                    reasoning was quite flawed as the present legislature has been vigouroulsy   ensuring that it exercised all powers which are vested in it under  constitution of the state read with Union Constituion, if the legislature enacts its own substantive law (JK RTI 2009) it is logical that rules also to be that of             creation of state executive keeping in view of the exigencies and special           conditions of our state” Sufi’s letter reveals.

While sharing the letter of GR Sufi with media, RTI applicant Raman Sharma also expressed his resentment over the attitude of the  Chief Minister’s office and commented that it should have responded to the letter of the a statuary and quasi judicial authority like Chief Information Commissioner who as per section 13 of Jammu and Kashmir RTI Act 2009 have the status and rank equivalent to that of an election commissioner .

--------------------------------------------------------

Published in Kashmir Times, The Northlines, JK Newspoint, Kashmir Life, Early Times, Kashmir Dispatch, Kashmir Monitor, Jammu Express, Journey Line, Daily Udaan-Urdu and other leading daily news papers.

http://www.thenorthlines.com/newsdet.aspx?q=79131

http://www.kashmirlife.net/5882029042014/

http://www.northerntimes.in/newsdet.aspx?q=25395

http://www.kashmirtimes.in/newsdet.aspx?q=31716
http://earlytimesnews.com/newsdet.aspx?q=126702