Since the inception of RTI Act in Jammu and Kashmir State i.e. from 20th March 2009 to till date, almost a decade now, the perception and fear in the minds of the designated Public Information Officers loom in that only they are responsible for providing information to an RTI applicant and in case any delay happens in providing information to the applicant  than they may attract the penalty as enshrined under section 17 of Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act 2009, that calls for a penalty range from  Rs. 250 to 25000 besides disciplinary action under civil services rules as applicable to the PIO.
But this is not the exact case and the designated Public Information officers must visit section 5 of the Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act 2009  thoroughly, of which a part is reproduced here, section 5(3) â Every Public information officer shall deal with requests from person seeking information and render reasonable assistance to the person seeking such informationâ  however section 5(4) and 5(5) clearly provides a sigh of relief to the designated Public Information officers as they read as â The PIO may seek assistance of any other officer as he/she considers it necessary for the proper discharge of his/her dutiesâ  and âAny officer whose assistance is sought is under sub section 4 shall render all assistance to the PIO seeking  the assistance for purpose of contravention of the provisions of the act. Such other officers shall be treated as Public Information officersâ.
It is pertinent to mention here that in Jammu and Kashmir state, the Public Information Officers (minimum  equivalent to rank of Under Secretaries ) are designated by the Public Authorities under section 5(1) of the act and they are suppose to provide information to an RTI applicant within stipulated period of time 30 days in general cases and 48 hours in exception cases related to life and liberty clause.
But unfortunately, often there are complaints from the PIOs that they find it quite difficult to provide voluminous and old information to the applicants within stipulated period of time and in case they fail to follow the time line then the applicant move the next higher authorities to file 1st appeal , 2nd appeal or complaints before the state information commission and a sword of penal provision always hung around their necks as under section 17-s , it is for the PIO to prove his innocence and he had acted reasonably and diligently.
The designated PIOs also complaint of non-cooperation from their colleagues as they feel that providing information under RTI act is the sole responsibility of the PIO and the poor PIOs lacking knowledge of law seldom exercise the option available to them under section 5(4) that is to seek assistance of any officer( senior or junior) and in case the officers whose assistance the designated PIO seeks fails to help then he/she would be liable to the same penalties as they were the designated PIOs.
The fear of RTI law amongst PIO is not only because they do not want to share information or the information is not available with their offices but lack of knowledge of the remedies under RTI act make it difficult for them to dispose of RTI applications under stipulated period of time.
The PIOs if properly go through all the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act 2009 surely they would find it much easier to dispose the RTI pleas within reasonable period of time and the innocent citizens would not be compelled to knock the door of higher authorities. Section 5 of RTI act also clearly states that Only PIOs are not responsible for providing information under RTI Act.
Raman Sharma, is an RTI activist and his email id is [email protected]
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