Brushing aside misinformation sought to be spread in certainquarters, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said that RTI can be filed locally inthe union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, even after the newarrangement comes into existence after October 31. He denounced the mischievousrumours that, because J&K will become a Union Territory, the applicant willhave to travel to Delhi to file an RTI.

Singh is also the MoS In-Charge Department of Personnel& Training (DOPT), which is the nodal department for Central InformationCommission of India dealing with the Right to Information (RTI) appeals.

Following a detailed discussion on the issue with CentralInformation Commissioner (CIC) Sudhir Bhargava, Singh said certain vestedelements continue to instigate different kinds of misgivings in the society, ina vain bid to disrupt the courageous initiative by the Narendra Modigovernment.

As a matter of fact, Singh said, during the last five years,after PM Modi took office, the procedures to file an RTI appeal have beenimmensely simplified and definite timelines have been laid down. This willapply equally as much to Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh after these becomeUnion territories, he said

Giving details, Singh said, the first RTI application ismade to the Public Information Officer (PIO) locally and in matters involving“life and liberty”, the time limit for the PIO to provide the information is 48hours. For the PIO to reply to the application, a timeline of 30 days has beenlaid down from the date of receipt of the application. For an applicant to makethe first appeal after the receipt of PIO’s reply, the first Appellateauthority in the form of the designated officer will also be available locally,whether it is the State or Union territory.

Only in case of the second appeal, Singh elaborated, theapplication has to be submitted to the Information Commission and even if theInformation Commissioner is not available locally, in case of Union Territory,the second appeal can be sent to the Central Information Commission on-linewithin 90 days from the receipt of the first appeal orders or from the date theorders were to be received.

To make the procedure much simpler, Singh said, "Wemade use of the modern technology and in a major breakthrough, during the Modigovernment, provided the facility of making second appeal before the CentralInformation Commission through portal, which, in other words, means that an RTIapplicant does not have to wait for the office hours and can file his appealeven from his mobile phone anytime during the day or night, at his convenience,and even while sitting at his home or anywhere else."