A Year After Dissolving State Commissions, Accountability Is Even Further From JK Than Before Rayan Naqash @Rayan_Naqash A fter the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status and statehood on 5 August 2019, eight state commissions were dissolved by the Government of India. A year later, there is little sign that the government intends to re-establish these crucial institutions in the Union Territory with a population of more than twelve million. The state commissions had come into being through individual Acts—similar to the central laws governing these commissions—enacted by the erstwhile state legislature in J-K. These Acts were repealed under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 even when, rights activists point out, they could have been retained as 166 other state laws have been. The dissolved commissions include the Human Rights Commission (SHRC), the State Information Commission, the State Women’s Commission, the State Accountability Commission, the State Vigilance Commission, the Consumer Commission, the Commission for Persons with Disability, and the Electricity Regulatory Commission. Nearly a year after the dissolution of these commissions and the transfer of their jurisdictions to the respective central commissions or administrative departments, activists in J-K say that accountability has taken a backseat as the process has become more cumbersome for the general public. Dr. Raja Muzaffar Bhat, a prominent Right to Information (RTI) activist, said that following the dissolution of the commissions, specifically the State Information and Human Rights Commissions, seeking accountability from government officials had become an even more difficult process. He said that a myth that J-K had a weak RTI law was perpetuated by “politicians, so-called think tanks, and television debaters” when the reality was that as a state J-K had more stringent rules than the central law. “Yes, the central act was not applicable but we had our own RTI law passed in 2009,” he pointed out. “It did not have the flaws that the central law has.” The J-K law had, for instance, specified a time period for the commission to process second-appeals cases within 60 days or provide, in writing, the reasons for delay beyond 120 days, said Dr. Bhat. He added that it was because of this that J-K’s “pending cases were among the lowest” in the country. However, under the central RTI Act of 2009, Dr. Bhat said, there is no provision for a separate commission in union territories and J-K cases will now be taken up in the Central Information Commission. “A resident of border areas who has to make an appeal against the local Tehsildar or Block Development Officer, now has to file a second appeal in the central commission [in New Delhi,” he said. “By clubbing us with [central] RTI Act of 2005, we have been disempowered because we don’t have an independent information commission.” The J-K Reorganization Act 2019 scrapped several s Dr. Bhat said that by the virtue of this distance, and the incre associated with this, the bureaucracy has become more opaqu a notion in government offices, among bureaucrats that RTI there is no commission so they are behaving in a different way a [poor] villager go to Delhi? We don’t have accountability anym “We have been disempowered in every which way,” he s everywhere today. Information on expenditure on COVID voluntarily. Under section 4 of central RTI act 2005 as well make voluntary disclosure on websites. They are not doing i Similarly, the J-K State Consumer Disputes Redres headed by a retired or serving judge—and its district oversight of a Double Bench of the High Court was also di mission’s cases were transferred to the administrative de Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs. According to Sami Yaqoob, an advocate who special cases, there were pros and cons to the dissolution and central commission’s oversight but the mere fact that the be heard in New Delhi had increased the financial costs o plaint by “more than a 100 times”. With a population of more than 12 million, according 2011 census, not only has the hardships and financial cost general public seeking accountability from the governan ensure the processes will be lengthy owing to the huge lo For many the dissolution of local institutions had left them woes compounded with the outbreak of COVID-19. Despite the State Women’s Commission, women victim-survivors a ue to reach out to Vasundhra Pathak Masoodi, the commi time of its dissolution, seeking help. “During the lockdown I was flooded with distress call different corners of J&K,” Ms. Masoodi said. “It’s really he I can’t reply to them back that the commission has been clo Photograph by Sanna Irshad Mattoo.
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