Right to information and its relation with good governsance: A case of Jammu and Kashmir

Right to Information (RTI) act is an important step towards good governance and has resulted into democratization and dissemination of information regarding certain rights and responsibilities of both state and its citizens and making it available to all its citizens irrespective of caste, colour, creed and religious beliefs. The act helps in seeking information from all the government offices and institutions who are duty bound to give information about all government activities and other related matters including a copy of any record in the form of documents, memos, emails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, log books, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data materials held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any law for the time being in force. Right to Information is a fundamental right which means the right to access the information from any public authority. Under RTI act, one can seek and receive information from any govt office viz. Panchayat office, office of the Municipal ward officer or office of the Chief Minister and even the office of the President of India. In this paper an attempt has been made to review the present performance of RTI act in Jammu and Kashmir and its role in good governance.