Dr Shazad Urges DC Poonch to Sensitize Officers about RTI Act, PSGA ; Officers do not honour PSGA, RTI Act in Poonch : BADC

GNS ONLINE NEWS PORTAL 

JAMMU MARCH 09:-Jammu and Kashmir Border Area Development Conference (JK_BADC), a registered organization working for the welfare of border residents and tribal population of Jammu & Kashmir, has requested the Deputy Commissioner Poonch to direct the officers and departments in the border district to strictly follow the provisions of the Right to Information Act and PSGA.

In a statement issued today, the organization has alleged that many designated Public Information Officers(PIOs) under the RTI Act and other responsible officers under the Public Services Guarantee Act in the District Poonch have failed to adhere to the provisions of both these citizen-centric laws.

Dr Shazad Ahmed Malik, Chairman of the BADC and former Vice Chancellor stated that during his interaction programs with social activists and former Panchayat representatives of District Poonch he was apprised that the citizens are unable to get the information from the government offices under the RTI Act within the stipulated period and many times even the officers do not serve any reply to the applicants and in short discredit the purpose and mandate of the RTI Act.

The BADC Chairman also said , the most important citizen friendly law , J & K Public Services Guarantee Act which was enacted in 2011 to provide time bound delivery of services to the people has also been rendered toothless.

He requested the Deputy Commissioner Poonch to direct all the officers under his command in the border district to adhere to the mandate of the RTI Act and PSGA in letter and spirit. The former VC also asked the district administration Poonch to hold awareness and sensitization programs of these laws for strict implementation.