Srinagar, April 26 : Prominent Social Activist Inam Un Nabi has demanded the voluntary disclosure of information by public authorities as Most of this information is of great public importance especially funds spend on COVID 19 pandemic, supply of free ration, availability of medicines and life saving drugs, availability of N 95 masks, sanitizers and gloves at chemist shops, expenditure incurred in procuring the chemicals etc.
In a statement issued today Inam Un Nabi said that One of the main provisions of the RTI Act, listed under section 4 (2), is so that citizens don’t have to seek information. Other important duties of public authority under Section 4 include cataloguing, indexing and computerization of records, publishing certain basic information pertaining to each organization within a specified time frame. Needless to say the section hasn’t ever lived up to its potential, Inam added
Inam Un Nabi in a statement issued today said “Many Government departments are spending huge public money to counter spread of Corona virus, but who knows how much has been spend and where it has been spend? Let there be transparency as there are allegations that some people are committing frauds. So I suggest making the details of expenditure available through an online portal that could be updated regularly. This is also mandated under section 4 of RTI Act 2005 (proactive disclosure of information)”.
Inam further said that Officials working with essential services departments allege that chemicals and other material used in ongoing pandemic has been purchased on exorbitant rates by their seniors. If this is only an allegation let the authorities make voluntary disclosure about all the purchases made during last 1 month.
