The Government is yet to finalize the list of probable candidates for the post of State Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and Information Commissioner (IC). As state is put under Governors rule, it is difficult to say whether Governor can appoint State Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and Information Commissioner ?
|| DR RAJA MUZAFFAR BHAT
By the time this article gets published, G R Sufi the State Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) would have retired from his post thus making State Information Commission (SIC) almost a handicap institution. The J&K State Information Commission (SIC) was constituted under the provisions of J&K Right to Information Act 2009. The Commission as per State RTI Act is supposed to have two Information Commissioners (IC’s) and one Chief Information Commissioner (CIC). After the enactment of J&K RTI Act on March 20th 2009, the selection committee consisting of Chief Minister , Leader of Opposition and Deputy Chief Minister recommended name of G R Sufi for the post of State Chief Information Commissioner (CIC).
The selection committee could not make consensus on CIC’s appointment for more than a year. It took them almost 22 months to appoint CIC. G R Sufi who was serving as Chief Commissioner Income Tax is an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of 1977 batch. He did his post graduation in Political Science from Aligrah Muslim University. When G R Sufi was appointed as first CIC of J&K , he was yet to retire from Government service and thus he h ad t o t ake v oluntary r etirement from Government of India before taking charge of State Chief Information Commissioner on Feb 28th 2011. Sufi thus got a full five year term as CIC.
The two other persons namely Dr S K Sharma former Professor law Jammu university a nd N azir A hmad f ormer Chief Engineer PWD were appointed as Information Commissioners (IC’s) on 24.10.2011 and 18.11.2011 respectively. As Dr S K Sharma completed 65 years of his age during October last year he retired from the post of Information Commissioner, thus increasing workload of CIC Sufi and IC Nazir Ahmad. Dr S K Sharma was looking after RTI related cases pertaining to Jammu division. Now with the retirement of CIC G R Sufi all the cases pending before this commission are going to be decided by a single Commissioner Nazir Ahmad.
Appointment of CIC , IC :
The Government is yet to finalize the list of probable candidates for the p ost o f S tate C hief I nformation Commissioner (CIC) and Information Commissioner (IC). As state is put under Governors rule, it is difficult to say whether Governor can appoint State Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and Information Commissioner ? The appointment powers lie with Governor but the selection committee is headed by CM and other members of this committee are Leader of Opposition and one cabinet Minister nominated by CM. The absence of Information Commissioner at Jammu office of the State Information Commission (SIC) is making State RTI Act redundant as dozens of appeals and complaints are piling up at the commission’s office. After retirement of Dr S K Sharma in October 2015 , neither Government nor the PDP-BJP coordination committee held any meeting to shortlist the probable candidate for the post of State Information Commissioner. Now as state has no elected Government, the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) has also retired, can Governor extend his term by few months ? This is a legal and constitutional matter. Some experts say that Governor can issue an ordinance for making necessary changes in J&K RTI Act 2009 , which could pave a way for G R Sufi to continue as State Chief Information Commissioner (CIC). But another group of experts say that it is not possible.
State Information Commission (SIC) had been facing lot of difficulties since its creation. The Government hardly cooperated with its functioning. The worst part was when Omar Abdullah lead Government repealed State RTI Rules of 2010. The new rules of 2012 curtailed the powers of State Information Commission (SIC). The successive Government’s have prematurely transferred Secretaries of State Information Commission (SIC). T he C hief I nformation C ommissioner (CIC) used to be consulted prior to posting or transfer of Secretary or any other staff members of Information Commission , but after the J&K RTI Rules 2010 were repealed in August 2012 , the Government now hardly consults the CIC on these matters .The consultation provision is nowhere present in the existing RTI Rules of 2012 which has challenged the autonomy of the State Information Commission (SIC)
The J&K RTI Act 2009 is mum over the appointment of new Information Commissioner after a commissioner retires. There should be an amendment in the J&K RTI Act 2009 in such a way that Information Commissioner be appointed within a month or two after some the post becomes vacant due to retirement of Information Commissioner.
Sufi’s tenure as CIC:
During his tenure as CIC ,G R Sufi issued some historical orders like declaring J&K Bank a Public Authority . The order was challenged before J&K High Court. Sufi declared some private schools as public authorities , he directed all the IAS and KAS officers of J&K to make voluntary disclosure of their property statements. He issued orders for giving information about mass graves , custodial disappearances etc. G R Sufi even summoned the then Chief Secretary Madhav Lal over non implementation of Right to Information Act. He gave some significant orders against Public Service Commission , SSRB and SKIMS. On the other hand some RTI activists have been alleging that Sufi did not penalize erring officers and he only kept issuing show cause notices to them under section 17 of J&K RTI Act 2009. In addition to his work G R Sufi organized several RTI awareness programmes on week days and holidays which was beyond the mandate of J& RTI Act 2009. This is being hailed by large section of the society.
Ordinance by Governor :
The J&K RTI Act 2009 is mum over the appointment of new Information Commissioner after a commissioner retires. There should be an amendment i n t he J &K R TI A ct 2 009 i n such a way that Information Commissioner be appointed within a month or two after some the post becomes vacant due to retirement of Information Commissioner. If J&K Government fails to appoint Information Commissioners for another six months or a year , nobody could be held legally responsible as law is silent over the time frame of appointment of Information Commissioners. If the new State Chief Information Commissioner ( CIC) a nd I nformation C ommissioner (IC) is not appointed as soon as possible ,the J&K RTI Act 2009 would get a great set back. This would be death of RTI regime in J&K as the appeals and complaints against public authorities would pile up at Information Commission. Nazir Ahmad a lone Information Commissioner (IC) cannot do justice with such a large number of complaints and appeals. We hope Governor calls an emergency meeting in this regard by seeking legal opening from experts. Until new Commissioners are appointed , Sufi sahib must continue as CIC for some months. To make this happen Governor has to issue necessary ordinance in this regard
Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat is Founder & Convener of Jammu & Kashmir RTI Movement
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