KL News Network
Srinagar
Expressing great concern over keeping the rights watchdog, State Information Commission (SIC) defunct and paralyzed, Kashmir Rights Monitoring Center, has termed it a gross violation of human rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Government and opposition in unison with each other have intentionally and deliberately made SIC paralyzed and entirely defunct because RTI had brought to fore some cases of corruption and more importantly it also paved ways for information related to such cases which exposed the official claims and issues related to human rights violations,” read the statement of KRMC
“Due to the intervention of this commission in some cases, the government officials were directed to provide information under state RTI Act to the appellants,” it added.
KRMC in its statement further said that “Right to Information is an important human right in the present day society. Freedom of Information (FOI) or Right to Information is defined as the universal right to access information held by public bodies. This right has been recognized by the United Nations.
Pertinently the KRMC statement mentions that “the Commission (SIC) has been left entirely defunct after its lone Information Commissioner completed his term in November 2016, thus stalling its overall work and leaving no higher authority for the public to appeal to under the Right to Information Act. Thus the Commission (SIC) is practically defunct as all the three commissioners have completed their term.”
“The callous attitude of the government to deprive the people of a viable Information Commission is highly deplorable. It once again depicts the insensitivity of the rulers towards the safeguard of the rights of the people and expose their tall claims. It also shows how basic human rights and laws do not find application here and rights of the citizens are trampled upon by the state,” adds the statement.
