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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Abrogation of Art 370 Halted Transparency Act in J&K -Raja Muzaffar Bhat

Abrogation of Art 370 Halted Transparency Act in J&K -Raja Muzaffar Bhat

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published Published on Jan 31, 2022   modified Modified on Jan 31, 2022

-Newsclick.in

The SC has issued notice to the Centre over public authorities failing to disclose information under the central RTI Act, which applies to the region since 2019.

Despite the rhetorical emphasis on e-governance, public authorities have failed to make suo moto information disclosures on their official websites in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country. In 2013, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) directed all public authorities to ensure regular audits by a third party of the voluntary disclosures, which are mandatory under section 4 of the RTI Act 2005. Some public authorities, especially central government organisations, follow the law, but in most states and Union Territories, they have miserably failed to ensure transparency. Their official websites are not updated, and official Twitter handles are not maintained either. 

The DoPT had directed, “Each ministry/public authority should have its proactive disclosure package audited by a third-party every year. The audit should cover compliance with the proactive disclosure guidelines as well as adequacy of the items included in the package. The audit should examine whether there are any other types of information which could be proactively disclosed. Such audit should be done annually and should be communicated to the Central Information Commission annually through publication on their own websites.”

In practice, however, most government offices seem reluctant to disclose information. So it has fallen on public-spirited citizens and activists to petition the high courts and even Supreme Court to ensure this legal provision gets implemented. Yet despite directions from the judiciary, government officials have not assured transparency by putting official records on their websites and other digital platforms. 

Supreme Court Notice 

The Supreme Court recently issued a notice to the government of India in response to a petition filed by a social activist KC Jain to effectively implement section 4 [section 4(2) in particular] of the RTI Act. A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh sought a reply from the Center by issuing a notice to the government of India. 

“There should be suo moto disclosure of all vital information. Section 4(2) embodies this mandate of suo moto proactive disclosures,” Jain’s plea states. Pertinently, several reports and orders of the Central Information Commission and various State Information Commissions (SICs) confirm the poor implementation of section 4. The petitioner also submitted that three other related petitions are pending before the court.

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Newsclick.in, 31 January, 2022, https://www.newsclick.in/abrogation-art-370-halted-transparency-act-jk?fbclid=IwAR3OOHcfY4k8CbwMguwiyFdnClnVXlzzZ-Egu3HsxRzKOCAWjY6l25Mx7BQ


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