Dear all,
You may remember my earlier email on the subject of lack of proactive disclosure of information about beneficiaries in J&K under the Central Government's Security-Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme. I had obtained the month-wise spending figures of the J&K Government of the SRE funds for 19 months in 2013-14 under the Central Right to Information Act, 2005. Having obtained this information from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, on January 19th we wrote to the Hon'ble Governor, J&K urging him to direct all Departments involved in spending SRE funds to proactively disclose the details of beneficiaries under Section
4(1)(b)
Every public authority shall publish within one hundred and twenty days from the enactment of this Act,-
(i) the particulars of its organisation, functions and duties;
(ii) the powers and duties of its officers and employees;
(iii) the procedure followed in the decision making process, including channels of supervision and accountability;
(iv) the norms set by it for the discharge of its functions;
(v) the rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records, held by it or under its control or used by its employees for discharging its functions;
(vi) a statement of the categories of documents that are held by it or under its control;
(vii) the particulars of any arrangement that exists for consultation with, or representation by, the members of the public in relation to the formulation of its policy or implementation thereof;
(viii) a statement of the boards, councils, committees and other bodies consisting of two or more persons constituted as its part or for the purpose of its advice, and as to whether meetings of those boards, councils, committees and other bodies are open to the public, or the minutes of such meetings are accessible for public;
(ix) a directory of its officers and employees;
(x) the monthly remuneration received by each of its officers and employees, including the system of compensation as provided in its regulations;
(xi) the budget allocated to each of its agency, indicating the particulars of all plans, proposed expenditures and reports on disbursements made;
(xii) the manner of execution of subsidy programmes, including the amounts allocated and the details of beneficiaries of such programmes;
(xiii) particulars of recipients of concessions, permits or authorisations granted by it;
(xiv) details in respect of the information, available to or held by it, reduced in an electronic form;
(xv) the particulars of facilities available to citizens for obtaining information, including the working hours of a library or reading room, if maintained for public use;
(xvi) the names, designations and other particulars of the Public Information Officers;
(xvii) such other information as may be prescribed and thereafter update these publications every year;
of the J&K RTI Act, 2009.
The Governor's office has taken prompt action on our request and directed all departments to proactively disclose the details of beneficiaries of SRE funds. The Governor's office has also sent a list of departments and public authorities who are responsible for spending SRE funds. These public authorities have been directed to upload the list of beneficiaries under SRE scheme for the last 3 years and regularly thereafter.
Since 2006 CHRI has been working in J&K to promote people's access to information. Along with the J&K RTI Movement and Sangarsh RTI Movement in J&K, CHRI is helping develop civil society actor's capacity to use RTI effectively to further the public interest. CHRI requests civil society actors and the media to closely monitor compliance with the directions of the Governor in all the concerned public authorities.
With regards,
Yours sincerely,
Venkatesh Nayak
GOVERNMENT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR
HOME DEPARTMENT CIVIL SECRETARIAT
Shri Vankatesh Nayak,
Programme Coordinator,
Access to Information Programme,
55A, Third Floor, Siddharth Chambers -I, Kalu Sarai, New Delhi -110 016.
No:- Home/12/Acctts/2015/505
Subject:- Proactive disclosure of information about beneficiaries under SRE Police and R&R schemes.
Sir,
Kindly refer your representation dated 19-01-2015 addressed to HE the Governor, J&K, Jammu regarding the above captioned subject.
In this context I am directed to inform you that under SRE (Security Related Expenditure) Scheme funds are utilized by the various Departments as per the following details:-
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S. No.
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Item of expenditure
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Authority to which funds are released by Finance Department.
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1.
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Relief to Kashmiri migrants including cash assistance, Free ration, food grains, construction of 2 room tenements civic amenities etc.
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Relief Relief Commissioner (Migrants).
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2.
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Ex-gratia Relief.
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1. Divisional Commissioners Jammu/Kashmir in respect of civilians.
2. J&K Police, SPOs, CPMFs through Director General of Police, J&K.
3. Army personnel by Home Department.
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■3.
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Cash payment in lieu of appointment in Government service.
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General Administration Department.
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4.
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Relief to Border Migrants.
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Revenue Department.
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5.
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Return and Rehabilitation of Kashmir Migrants.
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Relief Commissioner (Migrants).
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6.
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Rehabilitation of widows and orphans.
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Revenue Department.
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7.
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Surrender Policy.
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Police Headquarters, J&K
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AH the heads of these departments have been requested to furnish the requisite information regarding the details of beneficiaries under SRE funds for the last three financial years to you and also in future upload such details on the departmental website. A copy of the said communication is enclosed.
Yours faithfully,
Ghulam Mohammed Khan
Director Finance,
fax-0191-2579904
Encl:-
Copy to the Principal Secretary to Governor, J&K Jammu. This refers to his communication bearing No. GS-120(G)API/1 5/497 dated 24-1-2014.
