RTI Rules amended in Jammu & Kashmir
1 Sep, 2012The state government of Jammu and Kashmir has brought the new Right to Information (RTI) Rules 2012 which would replace the erstwhile RTI Rules 2010.
The General Administration Department (GAD) of the state has notified the new RTI Rules 2012. The salient features of the new rules are:
- The application fee has been reduced from Rs. 50/- to Rs. 10/-.
- As per the new rules, the fee can be paid by way of cash against proper receipt, demand draft, banker’s cheque or Indian Postal Order while filing of RTI application on non-judicial stamp paper has been omitted.
- The new rules do not carry any details of the procedure for filing First Appeal and filing of counter before First Appellate Authority.
- Critics have pointed that formation of different wings like Registry, Legal Cell, Monitoring and Reporting Wing, Right to Information & Transparency Institute (RITI) are missing in the new rules.
- Except for the change relating to reduction in application fee, all other changes in the RTI rules has received criticism from RTI activists who have claimed that it would weaken the RTI Act.