RTI decay
Nineteen years ago, on 12 October 2005, India took a bold step toward enhancing transparency and accountability with the enactment of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Properties of the Uttarakhand Wakf Board have, for the first time, been brought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005. So far, the board has maintained that being an autonomous body it was out of the purview of the RTI Act.
A decree to rope in the board under RTI provisions was pronounced by the state Information Commission while hearing a petition filed against the denial of information by the Piran Kaliyar Dargah Management. The Roorkee-based Piran Kaliyar is a renowned Islamic center that attracts huge devotees from across the country as well as Pakistan.
In his judgment, Information Commissioner Yogesh Bhatt said, “The Wakf Board is a Uttarakhand government’s body. It cannot be kept away from the ambit of the Right to Information Act.”
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Bhatt directed the board to appoint information commissioners at all its properties and subsidiaries across the state. The information commissioner asked the board to prepare a manual for the management of the Wakf Board and its properties within six months.
It’s noteworthy that the board and management of its properties in Uttarakhand always maintained that being autonomous bodies they do not come under the purview of the RTI. Hence they had not appointed information officers (IOs) despite an interim order issued to them by the information commissioner in May for mandatory appointment of IOs at all board properties.
Following the commissioner’s interim order, the Uttarakhand Wakf Board directed all its property management to appoint IOs but it went unheeded.
The Information commissioner’s order on Wednesday came while hearing a petition filed by a lawyer, Danish Siddique, who was earlier denied information by Piran Kaliyar management stating that it’s an autonomous body and has no information officer.
Piran Kaliyar management’s response to Siddique’s demand compelled the lawyer to take recourse to take up the matter with the state information commission. Bhatt’s order will have an impact on nearly 2,000 properties of the state wakf board worth thousands of crores of rupees.
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