J-K govt plans to make ‘RTI Portal’ fully operational by Dec 10

Jammu, Nov 27: The Jammu and Kashmir government has developed a portal to enhance the efficiency of processing and responding to Right to Information applications, and plans to make it fully operational by December 10, a senior official said.

The 'RTI Portal' will provide citizens with the convenience of submitting RTI requests, checking their status, and receiving responses electronically, without the need to visit government offices in person, Commissioner Secretary, General Administration Department (GAD), Sanjeev Verma said in a circular.

Verma said rtionline.jk.gov.in has been developed by the Jammu and Kashmir National Informatics Centre and the platform will maintain a comprehensive database of all RTI applications received by the Central Public Information Officers (CPIOS) and the appeals received by the First Appellate Authorities (FAAs) across various departments.

Additionally, it will facilitate the swift processing of applications by the concerned CPIOs and FAAS, he said.

"This digital shift will make the entire RTI process more streamlined, transparent, and user-friendly. The initiative will contribute to greater transparency, accountability, and effective governance within the Union Territory," he said.

The authorities have set a target for the portal to become fully operational by December 10.

For the smooth functioning of the portal, the nodal officers at the administrative department level have been nominated by all the departments who shall oversee the process of onboarding all the CPIOS or FAAs on the portal.

Accounts of these nodal officers have been created by the GAD and have been provided with the login credentials of the nodal officer of the concerned department, he said.

The nodal officers nominated at the administrative department level in respect of the RTI portal, have been imparted the requisite training for further onboarding the CPIOS and FAAS, he added.

In the case of the departments having huge strength of CPIOS/FAAS, the departments are nominating nodal officers at the directorate level as well and their accounts are also being created by the GAD on the portal on the basis of the information being shared by their respective departments and simultaneously, being provided with the login credentials, the commissioner secretary said.

Further, he said a nodal officer at the district level may also be nominated in all the deputy commissioner offices, for overseeing the smooth operationalisation of the portal in all the districts.

For effective implementation of the portal, he said all nodal officers shall on-board their respective CPIOS and FAAs on the RTI online portal, by or before November 29 positively, using the login credentials being provided to them by the GAD