RTI Act completes 5 years in Jammu and Kashmir

Use RTI judiciously & Responsibly: S K Sharma

Jammu, March 20: 2014

Information Commissioner S K Sharma said here today that the right to information law is a powerful weapon which should be used responsibly by citizens. He said that the proper use of RTI as a tool can lead to curbing and ending corruption from many spheres of life.

Mr Sharma said that corruption is such a bane of our society that it is eating into the vitals of our democracy. The tool of RTI can be used as to strengthen democracy and ensure transparency and openness, he added.

Mr Sharma was speaking at a seminar organized jointly by Sangarsh  RTI  Movement and Universal Foundation, NGOs working to create awareness in the civil society. Sangarsh RTI convenor Balwinder Singh explained in detail the journey of RTI Act, passed on March 20, 2009, by the state legislature.

Mr Singh recounted his experiences of filing RTI applications with various departments in the state and the responses he got from them. Asserting that RTI was indeed a very powerful tool of probity and transparency, Mr Singh said that an application he had filed about Sales Tax arrears led to recovery of over Rs 110 crore from the defaulters.

Similarly, in several other applications filed by the Sangarsh Samiti, the authorities were forced to take corrective action in different spheres, he said. Mr Singh said that the citizens should make use of RTI in a responsible manner to enhance transparency.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Dineshwar Jamwal of the Universal Foundation said that the NGO tries to create awareness about various issues in the public domain. He said that RTI in J&K needs to be promoted by the public as it can help create transparency, as also curb corruption.

Lawyer Aseeem Sawhney spoke on the issue of litigation and how lawyers are now in a position to use the RTI for gathering information relating the cases they have to contest in the courts. He said that information gathered through RTI regarding illegal appointments, wrong actions on the part of authorities etc can be used for filing cogent cases in courts of law.

RTI activist Raman Sharma recounted his experiences of using RTI over the last several years. He said that he had filed his first RTI application in 2007 to get refund from BSNL about a landline phone connection. Since then, he has filed countless applications and for public causes.

Mr Sharma said that there are some problems faced by the Public Information Officers (PIOs) and Assistant Public Information Officers (APIOs). These problems should be duly addressed by the government and the public authorities to make the RTI laws stronger. Dr. Hemla Agarwal while speaking appreciated the role of Sangarsh RTI activists for  spearheading the RTI movement in the state.

RTI Activist Deepak Sharma coordinated the over all program and also read the vote of thanks.

published on 20/03/2014 in: Daily Excelsior, State Times, Journey Line, Dainik Jagran, Kashmir Times, Early Times, JKNewspoint.

http://earlytimes.in/newsdet.aspx?q=124453

5 years of RTI in J&K: An Introspection by Deepak Sharma

Deepak Sharma

The Right to Information Act since its inception in 2005 in Center and 2009 in Jammu & Kashmir has begun an era of transparency and accountability in Governance and functioning of public authorities.

The Right to Information is given the status of the fundamental right under article 19(1) of the constitution of India. In 1976, the Supreme Court of India in the case of Raj Narain vs State of UP, said that it is not possible for the people to speak or express themselves unless they are informed and further observed that since India is a democracy people are the masters. Therefore, the masters have a right to know how the governments, meant to serve them, are functioning. Moreover every citizen pays taxes. Even a beggar pays tax (in the form of sales tax, excise duty etc) whenever he buys any thing from the market. The citizens therefore, have a right to know how their money is being spent by the government.  

These three principles were laid down by the Supreme Court while saying that Right to Information (know) is a part of our fundamental rights. 

Ironically no significant attempt was made either by the Central or State Government to implement the observations made by the apex court in regard to Right to Information. The current of demand for right to information for was first felt in Rajasthan and subsequently it swelled throughout India. 

The Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) started the Right to Information movement in Rajasthan and later it spreaded all over India .

Though in 2002, the then NDA led government enacted a law known as Freedom of information Act 2002 but due to less media propagation, bureaucratic apathy  and unawareness of the citizens this act could not become familiar amongst the masses and slowly became redundant .

 Finally, In May 2005, the central legislation i.e.  Right to Information Act 2005 was passed by Parliament. The RTI Act 2005 received Presidential assent on 15 June and came fully into force on 12 October 2005.

The journey of RTI act has not been that easy either in center or in the state of Jammu & Kashmir , which has its own RTI Act 2009, as it faced sturdy resistance from the corrupt and the anti transparency faction of the society. 

The present form of state act i.e. Jammu & Kashmir Right to Information Act, 2009 came into force on 20 March 2009. Ever since its enactment it has tasted both the appreciation and apathy from the Government. Though the state RTI Act was first said to be more powerful than central RTI act, by the state Government but the same Government later weakened it by bringing amendment in the rules of the act. Which made it almost powerless as compared to earlier rules as these rules have  curtailed most of the powers of the State Information Commission, the apex RTI body act in the state.  

The mysterious silence of the State Information Commission at the times when the old rules were repealed by the Government raised many eyebrows and condemnation from the civil society and RTI activists. Moreover the reluctance  shown by the State Information Commission in conducting awareness programs among masses regarding the implementation of RTI act in the state further distanced the commission from those activists/stakeholders who are acting to safeguard the epitome of transparency in the state.  

The apathy and outlook of the State Information Commission towards RTI activist and other advocates of transparency in the state can be well gauged from the fact that seldom the State Information Commissioners had held any meetings with the RTI activists and other stake holders to know and discuss the issues experienced by them for the better implementation of state RTI act. Rather than appreciating the role of RTI activists in  exposing the corrupt practice prevalent in the public authorities, the State Chief Information Commissioner, on the contrary on several occasions  have even denied to recognize those who are exposing the corrupt practices at the cost of their lives, as activists and had publicly stated and restated that the commission do not recognize anybody as activist , which has utterly shattered the self respect of many activists as what they can expect from others, when the commission itself questions their identity . 

Justifying its stand the learned commissioner states that in the RTI act there is no mention of the word ’activist’, but it fails to understand that as per RTI act there is also no mention of any obligation on anybody to put one’s life on threat to expose the corrupt practices prevailed in the society. But still there are altruistic people who with missionary zeal to save the nation from the monster of corruption, showing utmost courage, files RTI and fights against the set system of sleaze to expose the corrupts and misdeeds in the Governance and public sectors.

The Hon’ble State Chief Information Commissioner need to understand that an applicant is one who files an RTI for its own purpose and cause whereas an activist is the one who feeling his/her moral responsibility towards society uses the act and files RTI in the larger public interest and these people well deserves to be recognized as activists by the commission, feeling its own moral responsibility. 

The commission and activist are the soul and heart of the transparency act as one can not function properly without the other. The nation in general and the state in particular has seen the fate of all those acts in which there was no significant role of activists , they all either met their silent death before bringing any change in the society or became weak and redundant . 

The incidents of allegations by some activists, of favoritism and sleekness shown by the State Information Commission towards some public authorities and  being selective while imposing penalties to the  erring Public Information Officers depicts the resentment of many towards the functioning of the commission and the distance between the activist/applicants vis-à-vis commission further increases which is a matter of serious concern, not healthy for transparency regime and need to be addressed as early as possible.

From the other end, the poor implementation of section 4(1)(b) of the RTI act which obligates the public authorities to pro actively disclose information regarding its functioning , pathetic record management and lack of digitization of records in public authorities are the major roadblock to the effective realization of the RTI act in the state. 

 The Public Information Officers (PIO) who are designated under the RTI act to provide information to the applicant , in most of the cases are overburdened as apart from discharging duties as PIO , they are also designated to perform other functions of the public authority .  

Since RTI is a time bound matter and in the absence of timely delivery of information, the PIO could be penalized, the PIO gives preference to the timely disposal of RTI applications and hence the other function of the public authority performed by the same PIO is sidelined and delayed, which again ultimately adds to the suffering of the citizens. The act which is made to bring transparency becomes the biggest blockade for getting their work done for citizens in such circumstances. 

 To overcome such situations apart from proper digitization of the record , deliberations be made by the competent authorities to designate PIO exclusively  for the timely disposal of the RTI requests and they should not be delegate any other function, so that  other work of public importance do not get suffer.   

Inspite of all, in a short period of 5 years since its enactment, the RTI act has been successfully used by many RTI activists in the state to uncover many scams and transgression in the governance from sales tax scam to defunt lying ventilators and wastage of precious blood in the Government Hospitals of the state,  Snail pace of work at Mubarak Mandi Complex or fake gold offering and many new incidents of scams exposed through the RTI are being reported almost daily.  

The sunshine law can attain its true spirit only when everyone in the civil society attain the spirit of activism and use the RTI act  to establish an   accountable, public welfare friendly ,corruption free and transparent governance.  About Author: Deepak Sharma is a RTI Activist and can be reached at rtiactjk@gmail.com

http://epaper.earlytimes.in/archive.aspx?page=6&date1=03/20/2014

Activists Seek Action against Political Parties, Candidates for Flouting Traffic Norms

JAMMU, 18/ MARCH/ 2014: Concerned over the traffic violation by the leaders, supporters, contesting candidates and political parties during the election campaign, RTI Activists Raman Sharma and Deepak Sharma have demanded legal against them for causing unnecessary harassment to the general public. A formal complaint in this regard has been submitted with the government where it is being submitted that since the elections for the parliament seats has been announced and political parties and the leaders are on election campaign to seek support for their candidates and parties but it has been noticed that during these  election rallies and processions of the political parties the motor vehicle act and other road traffic rules are blatantly ignored. The complainants while expressing concern have also  stated that many a times we find the workers, leaders, contesting candidates and their supporters standing  on roof top of the running trucks, buses, matadors, tractors, trolleys and other heavy vehicles. One can easily find these vehicles over crowded than their legal limit. The attention of the government is also invited towards the illegal motor rallies organized by the Political parties to garner support in election, in the complaint it is being alleged that political parties organize scooter/ motor cycle rallies and there also the political workers do not wear any crash helmet and having 3 to 4 people sitting on a two-wheeler which can cause risk to their lives and of other people also on the road. The Traffic Police, Executive Police and Transport Authorities are also blamed for inaction against these traffic offenders. RTI Activist Raman Sharma and Deepak Sharma while giving more details about their complaint informed that they submitted the complaint through GAD monitored CM Grievance cell vide no. 47770 and 47817 and the same have now been further forwarded to the Deputy Commissioner Jammu and Transport Department respectively with a direction from GAD to dispose them at an earliest.

published in JKNewspoint, Journeyline, Earlytimes, Rising Kashmir       dated 19/03/2014

http://www.earlytimes.in/newsdet.aspx?q=124347

http://epaper.kashmirtimes.in/index.aspx?page=4

Kashmir Times, 19/Mar/2014

No Time Limit for Issuance of EPICs, ECI Tells RTI Applicant

 Bring EPIC services under PSGA: RTI Activist

Jammu, 15/Marh/2014: Even after 21 years (from Aug-1993) of launch of issuing of photo identity cards by Election Commission of India even today there is no time limit fixed by the election commission of India for issuance of Election Photo Identity Card to a registered voter. The election commission of India in a response to  an application under Right to Information Act  has confessed that no specific time limit has been fixed by the commission. While responding to an RTI query of RTI activist Raman Sharma regarding time specified for issuance of an EPIC to a registered voter, the CPIO and Under Secretary of the Election commission of India vide his office letter no. 4/RTI/12/2014-ERS/862 dated 27/02/2014 has stated “no specific time limit has been fixed by the commission. However it is informed that efforts are made to provide Election Photo Identity Card at the earliest to a person who is enrolled in the electoral roll and has not received EPIC before”.  On another question of the applicant the CPIO has informed that expenditure incurred on EPICs is borne by the Central government and the state government in 50:50 ratio. On the question of total number of voters in J & K and also total number of voters who have been issued Epics’ in  J &K since 2000, the commission has stated that data has not been compiled for Jammu and Kashmir separately however data for all state can be had from the commission. The CPIO of the ECI has denied information to Raman Sharma on his queries  where the applicant has asked about period of time when all the voters shall be issued EPIC cards in J &K and India, the CPIO has stated that the information sought in not in the form of information as defined in section 2(f) of the right to information act.

On being asked about his intention to seek this information from election commission,  Raman said there are many cases where the registered voters even after submitting all formalities  do not get their EPICs for months  together. He demanded bringing service of providing EPIC under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Guarantee Act, 2011 so that the voters can get their EPICs in a stipulated time limit and without any discrepancies which would obviously also enhance the voting percentage in the elections. 

JK Newspoint, 16/Mar/2014


Published in JK Newspoint, greater kashmir, journey line, kashmir times

http://www.jknewspoint.com/newsdet.aspx?q=33096

http://jammu.greaterkashmir.com/news/2014/Mar/16/-no-time-limit-fixed-for-issuance-of-epic--13.asp

Text of RTI Application

Application Under Right To Information  Act 2005

PIO

Election Commission of India,

New Delhi.

Respected Sir,

Kindly provide me the following point wise information under the provision of Right to Information Act, 2005. I am a bonafide citizen of India and an initial fee of Rs.10/-in shape of IPO, No 08F 877098  has also been enclosed.

INFORMATION SOUGHT

1	Total amount of money spent by the election commission for the purpose of providing Election Photo Identity Cards to voters in J &K.  Provide year wise information right from year 2000 to till date.
2	Provide details like Name and particulars of the department/agency that has been assigned the task of providing EPICs to the citizens by the ECI.
3.	Intimate Total number of voters in J & K and also total number of voters who have been issued Epics’ in  J &K,  give year wise detail right from 2000 to till date.
4.	In what period of time all the voters shall be issued EPIC cards in J &K.
5	In what period of time all the voters in India shall be issued EPIC cards.
6	Total amount of money paid by the ECI to a voter card for his/ her photograph.
7	Intimate  total number of EPIC card holders in India as on date, give state wise list
8	Intimate total number of voters in India as on date, state wise
9	Total number of complaints received by the ECI from J & K voters regarding faulty EPICs and also provide detail of action taken by ECI in this regard.
10	Total amount of money spent by the election commission for the purpose of providing Election Photo Identity Cards to voters in all states of India.  Provide year wise and state wise information right from year 2000 to till date.
11	As per rules  in how many days/months an EPIC should be issued to a voters after submitting all formalities’.
12	Total amount of money issued by the ECI to the J & K election department for the purpose of providing EPICs to voters right from year 2000 to till date, give year wise detail.

.

SIC shies away from Transparency, Refuses to Share Its' Letter to Omar

‘ RTI Application Rejected on Flimsy Ground ’

Jammu, 13/Marh/2014:  Shying away from transparency and Ignoring the preamble of the RTI Act which calls for “setting out the regime of the right to information act for the people of the state to secure access  to information  under the control of public authorities , in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority and whereas, democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Government and instrumentalities  accountable to the governed” . The Jammu and Kashmir State Information Commission has denied sharing a communication letter written by Chief Information Commissioner GR Sufi to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and after a pause of 40 days it has rejected an RTI application on flimsy ground.  

The Public Information Officer (Deputy Registrar) at State Information Commission has rejected an application under Jammu and Kashmir Right to information Act 2009 of RTI activist Raman Sharma on the ground that the applicant had not mentioned the name of the ‘Account Officer’ on the Indian Postal Order amounting Rs. 10 which was submitted with the RTI application as stipulated fees.

The applicant Raman had  personally submitted the application with the Public Information Officer on 16/Jan/2014 along with the requite fees which remained unattended with the SIC for over  40 day and then rejection letter, original application and fees is received back by the applicant only on 28/Feb/2014 i.e. after inordinate delay of over 40 days.  

It is worth to mention here that  as per the legal provision of the Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act 2009 vide section 7(1) it is obligatory on the part of the PIO to either provide the requisite information as expeditiously as possible but in no case later than 30 days or reject application citing valid exemption clause.

But the Public Information Officer at the State Information Commission, the apex RTI body which is suppose to be a protector of transparency law and trend setter for other Public Authorities to follow and honour the provisions of the transparency law blatantly flouted the provisions of the act and took over 40 days to reject the application. Calling it as an most unfortunate action and blow to transparency law.

 Raman Sharma while giving his reaction over the failure of the PIO to dispose of his application within stipulated period of 30 days  said that even if there was lack on his (applicant’s) part then also as per section    6-1(b) the J & K RTI Act 2009 it is ample clear and already mentioned in the law that the PIO shall render reasonable assistance to the person making the request. He also complained that he received the rejection letter through ordinary post only which also highlights the insensitive approach of the commission towards the law. He also informed that in his RTI application he has only asked for the copies of letters written by Chief Information Commissioner to the Chief Minister and there was no reason to deny this simple information.

Activists Demand Immediate Arrest of Criminal Parliamentarians

Activists Demand Immediate Arrest of Criminal  Parliamentarians

 

Jammu, 13/Feb/2014: Social activists and legal professionals from Jammu and Kashmir have demanded immediate arrest of all members of parliament indulged in  criminal act and creating ruckus in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday during tabling of bill related to  creation of Telangana State (bifurcation of Andhra Pardesh). In a joint statement issued by RTI Activists including  Raman Sharma, Deepak Sharma,  Harasis Singh, advocate Dewaker Sharma and Vilakshan Singh have said  “Today is the saddest day of democracy, these criminal MP’ have not only derogated the serenity and resplendence  of the august house but have also molested the democratic principles established by the constitution”.  

The statement reads as  “We the people of this peaceful nation cannot tolerate such criminals and their shameful act who claim to be addressed as honourables. They  have turned our Parliament into a wrestling arena.”

“ The criminal MPs’ who brought knives, Pepper Sprays and other hazardous material in the house should be expelled from their Lok Sabha membership and stripped of all privileges and facilities .  President Pranab Mukherjee being the custodian of the constitution should sent a tough message to all the hooligan politicians who do not believe in the constitutional processes but take law into their hand not only on streets but also in the Parliament, the activists demanded.                   

http://journeyline.in/newsdet.aspx?q=45604

http://www.thenorthlines.com/newsdet.aspx?q=76357

published in Journeyline, northlines and others on 14/Feb/14

1938 units of blood went drain in GMC and SMGS hospital in 3 years

 Jammu, 12/Feb/2014: In a shocking reply to the RTI filed by RTI activist Deepak Sharma, the Government Medical College and Hospital reveled that a total of 1140 blood units were wasted in GMC Jammu in 3 years and 796 blood units wasted in SMGS hospital during the same period making a total waste of 1938 blood units in two premier Government hospitals of the city.

Sharing details, Deepak said that many times it is seen that people face many hardship for arranging blood for their patients as most of the time they are denied blood from the blood banks of hospitals and are asked to arrange blood for the patients at their own. Whereas citizens and volunteers throng blood donation camps and willingly part with their own blood with the noble intention of saving lives of others. To find the utilization of blood and functioning of blood banks in the hospitals he filed the RTI.

The Government Medical College and Hospital, Jammu in reply to the RTI divulged that 183 units of blood discarded in the year 2011, jumping to the discard of 536 units of blood  in 2012 and 421 units of blood discarded in 2013 in GMC. Whereas in SMGS hospital 235 units of blood discarded in 2011, 247 units discarded in 2012 and which rose to 316 units of discarded blood in 2013. The figures speaks volume of the wastage of the blood, which normally expires in 35 days from the date of its collection.   It is also submitted that blood components which are prepared from a unit of whole blood and includes Red Blood cells, platelets and fresh frozen plasma are not prepared in GMC, as the hospital do not have the permission to prepare the components of blood due to paucity of machines and space. Also around 500 units of blood is given to other private hospitals and nursing homes of the state.  Furthermore the SMGS hospital is waiting from the last 1 year to get its blood bank license renewed which expired in December 2012.

One of the major reasons for the blood wastage has been the absence of maintaining the temperature of blood units during its shifting from the blood bank to the recipient department or on receiving it back at the blood bank owing to its non utilization. 

“There seems to be a lack of proper storage, handling facilities and qualified technicians at the hospital behind such a huge waste of precious blood and many of such units are  destroyed by the blood bank because they had crossed the expiry date which could have been given to those in need of blood. “ said the activist. To save the blood from wastage the activist has appealed the Government to device a mechanism to inter connect all the blood banks of hospitals in the state where availability  of blood units of various groups is updated regularly, so that those in need of blood can contact the respective blood bank and blood is used before its expiry .  The activist also appealed to the government to conduct regular audit of blood banks to minimize the blood wastage.

Declaring JK Bank as Public Authority: Chief Justice transfers JK Bank case on SIC

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Feb 8: Chief Justice of State High Court, Justice M M Kumar has transferred from Srinagar Wing to Jammu the petition filed by J&K Bank challenging the order of Full Bench of State Information Commission whereby the bank was declared as “Public Authority”.
After hearing the both the sides, Chief Justice observed, “the petition should have been filed in the Jammu Wing of the High Court as the decision challenged in the writ petition has been passed at Jammu and out of nine complainants, seven are permanent residents of Jammu province”.
“As the Bank has its established office at Jammu also, no inconvenience would be caused to the Bank to prosecute its case at Jammu. On the other hand, the applicant and others could not be asked to defend their case at Srinagar for the sole reason that Bank has its head office at Srinagar”, the Chief Justice said and directed for transfer of OWP No. 616/2012 titled as J&KBank Limited Versus J&K State Information Commission and Others pending in the Srinagar Wing to the Jammu Wing of the High Court. Registrar (Judicial) Srinagar Wing was directed to send the file to Jammu Wing for listing the same as per roster in Jammu Wing.

http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/cj-transfers-jk-bank-case-on-sic/

Published in Daily excelsior, JK News Point and other daily newspaper on 9th/Feb/2014.



JKNEWSPOINT........http://www.jknewspoint.com/newsdet.aspx?q=31011 

CJ transferred petition filed by J&K Bank

Newspoint Bureau

Jammu Tawi, February 8 Chief Justice of State High Court MM Kumar has transferred the petition filed by J&K Bank challenging the order of Full Bench of SIC whereby SIC declares J&K Bank as "Public Authority" from Srinagar Wing to Jammu Wing. This directions has been passed in a transfer petition filed by Vilakshan Singh seeking transfer of petition (titled as J&K Bank Limited v. J&K State Information Commission and ors from Srinagar Wing of the High Court to the Jammu Wing of the Court. Chief Justice MM Kumar of State High Court after considering the both the sides observed that petition should have been filed in the Jammu Wing of the High Court as the decision challenged in the writ petition has been passed at Jammu and out of nine complainants, seven are permanent residents of Jammu province. As the Bank has its established office at Jammu also, no inconvenience would be caused to the Bank to prosecute its case at Jammu. On the other hand, the applicant and others could not be asked to defend their case at Srinagar for the sole reason that Bank has its head office at Srinagar and further observed that this petition succeeds. OWP no. 616/2012 titled as J&K Bank Limited v. J&K State Information Commission and others pending in the Srinagar Wing is directed to be transferred to the Jammu Wing of the High Court. Registrar (Judicial) Srinagar Wing is directed to send the file to Jammu Wing for listing the same as per roster in Jammu Wing. JNF

Police defy GAD circular, complaint lodged with CM

POLICE USING WORD  'DARBAR' Early Times

2/4/2014 10:20:35 PM

Sumit Sharma JAMMU, Feb 4: Humiliating the General Administration Department (GAD), the Jammu and Kashmir Police defied its circular with impunity and impetuosity, compelling an RTI activist to lodge a complaint against 'Khakhi' with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in this regard . The, State General Administration department, (GAD) issued a circular vide no 32-GAD of 2012 dated 15/10/2013 where clear directions were given to the officers and Ministers to stop using objectionable word 'Darbar' which sounds and reminds the era of monarchy and which is against the ethos and principles of democracy which are the essential components of the constitution of the country and even of the State. The GAD officially declared the word 'Public Darbar' as "Public Grievances Camp" and the circular of the GAD have made a lot of impact on all civil departments and ministries, except police department where the senior officers of the police like DGP, ADGP, IGP, DIG's, SSPs and SP ranked officer are blatantly using this word for their meeting with their subordinates and Jawans and even for public meetings. The phrases like 'DGP Darbar', 'SSP Darbar' are regularly used by the state police department in their press notes through State Information and Publicity department. In the complaint lodged to Chief Minister, the RTI activist Raman has urged upon him to give directions to the State Police Department to honor the feelings of the people, honor the GAD circular no 32 of 2012 and stop using this objectionable word. Pertinently, the State Government replaced the word "Darbar" in all official communications of the Government. Jammu and Kashmir General Administration formally issued an order in this regard vide circular no. 32/GAD dated 15/Oct/2012 where it has impressed upon all the Government Functionaries, Divisional and District Administration to ensure that the words "Public Grievances Camp" are used in all relevant communications. This development came in the wake of an appeal cum objection filed by Jammu based RTI activist Raman Sharma, where he had urged the Chief Minister to issue a direction to the Government departments not to use word "Public Darbar" for official meetings of the Ministers and the officer, according to the complainant it was against the values and principles of democratic establishment of equality. In his appeal through Chief Minister Grievance Cell vide no. 32045 dated 19/May/2012, Raman demanded a direction for everyone right from Ministers to junior level officers to avoid words like "Darbar" in official press notes and communications Published in Early Times on 05/02/2014 : http://www.earlytimes.in/newsdet.aspx?q=121983

SVO Prefers Silence on probe Against JKPCC

Despite CM Secretariat’s  Direction and 3 Reminders

SVO Prefers Silence on probe Against JKPCC

Jammu, 01/Feb/2014: The Jammu and Kashmir State Vigilance Organization is keeping a mum over the probe ordered by none other than the Chief Minister’s Secretariat  against the JKPCC, Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation Limited, a government owned company. The Chief Minister’s grievance cell (jkgrievance.nic.in) on 18/12/2013 had forwarded a complaint against the JKPCC to the State Vigilance Organization and then after also sent at least 3 reminders      ( reminders dated 30/12/2013, 06/01/2014 and 20/01/2014) to the State Vigilance department requesting early disposal of the complaint but all fell on deaf ear and the organization did not even bother to acknowledge the receipt of the complaint.

Earlier on 13/Dec/2013  complainant Raman Sharma had submitted  a written complaint to the Chief Minister through grievance cell wherein  his plea  he had submitted that the JKPCC  has flouted the directions of the Chief Minister and had purchased three luxurious vehicles and despite having 25 vehicles of its own also hired 6 private vehicles without inviting any tenders and have made a payment of Rs. 4,88,000.

In the complaint (vide no 45049) it is being submitted  the Chief Minister  while being officiating as Chairman of JKPCC in 2010, in 85th meeting of Board of Directors had directed the corporation to emphasize the need of capacity building to make it more profit earning and job providing organization and  lay stress on making transparency benchmark of functioning in the Corporation and vetting of the proposals involving financial implications and administrative matters by the Finance and Budget Committees of the Corporation for the final consideration of the Board.

In the meeting the chief minister had also directed for putting moratorium on purchase of high cost vehicles for next five years (till 2015 ). It was also directed to the corporation that the vehicles required for field workers should be given preference over the high cost luxury ones and the proposal for purchase of vehicles should be got approved not only by the Chairman (Minister in charge) of JKPCC but also by the Chief Minister. But flouting all the directive of the Chief Minister, the corporation has recently purchased three SUVs Renault Dusters and it has also drained an amount of Rs. 75,42804 as fuel charges. The complainant had further alleged.

published in state times, early times, jk news point and others

http://www.jknewspoint.com/newsdet.aspx?q=30586

http://www.statetimes.in/news/despite-cm-secretariats-directions-svo-silent-probe-jkpcc/

http://www.earlytimes.in/newsdet.aspx?q=121788

Asked Information pertains to excavation and digging done by the ASI on a 19th century fort in Village Daundia Kheda, Unnao in Uttar Pradesh which was started in October-2013.]

Detail of RTI  Information related  to excavation and digging done by the ASI on a 19th century fort in Village Daundia Kheda, Unnao in Uttar Pradesh which was started in October-2013.

Finally after a wait of around 3 months i got it.....