After five years of framing of the Right to information act in Jammu and Kashmir, the government has appointed 40 Public Information and Assistant Public Information officers in various departments.
The right to information act in the state was enacted by the state assembly in the year 2004 and the rules were notified in year 2005. Whereas in the rest of the country the RTI was formed one year later in 2005.
40 officers in different departments were appointed by the government, five years after the making of law to make the right to information in the state practical that was at present not available with the general public.
A large number of non-governmental organisations had raised the issue about the absence of right to information in the state. They had alleged that as the corruption in the state was rampant the right to information was necessary. J&K has been considered as one of the most corrupt states in the country.
Most of the officers are of the rank of additional secretaries, some of special secretaries and others of undersecretary of various departments of the state.
Most of the officers are of the rank of additional secretaries, some of special secretaries and others of undersecretary of various departments of the state.
Some time back chief minister Omar Abdullah had asked the general public to post their comments on the government website so that the RTI could be modified in a desired manner. However people did not show interest in the scheme and the government did not receive an overwhelming response from the public.