Govt declines info about Dastegeer shrine blaze

By MUDASIR AHMED

Published: Sat, 11 May 2013 08:50 AM

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir government has declined to give information under the RTI (Right to Information) Act about the gutting of revered Dastegeer Sahab shrine last year, saying the disclosure will “impede the investigation.”
“The information asked by you cannot be provided to you for the reason same is exempt from the disclosure in view of the context of clause “g” of section 8 of J&K Right to Information Act, 2009,” says the reply from the office of Divisional Commissioner Kashmir in response to an RTI application filed by Advocate Mudasir Naqashbandi.
Naqashbandi had sought a copy of the report of inquiry ordered by the government into the mysterious fire. The 200-year-old shrine of Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani (RA), popularly known as Dastegeer Sahab, at Khanyar in the heart of downtown Srinagar was gutted in a major blaze on June 25 last year, sending entire Valley in grief and anger.
To calm the tempers, the state government immediately ordered a probe appointing the Divisional Commissioner as the inquiry officer to ascertain the cause of the fire as well as the response of the agencies and departments concerned.
The government had then said that inquiry officer will submit the report within a week’s time. The deadline, however, stretched into months, and on July 31 the government formally gave orders granting two more weeks to the inquiry officer for submitting his report. Finally, on August 15 the inquiry officer submitted the report to the government.
Naqashbandi termed the government explanation as bizarre, given that the inquiry officer has already completed the investigation and submitted the report to the government.
“The inquiry officer submitted the report two months after the incident, without establishing the cause of the fire. Instead, the report gave recommendations like installation of fire alarm bells, smoke detection systems, underground water tanks, etc,” Naqashbandi told Kashmir Reader.
Under the clause ‘g’ of section 8, Naqashbandi says, they (Divisional Commissioner’s office) have not given the information on the pretext that disclosure of the said information would impede the process of investigation along with apprehension of prosecution of offenders.
“Now I am filing first appeal at Divisional Commissioner office under section 15 of J&K RTI ACT 2009 as the requisite information has not been provided,” Naqashbandi said. “The reasons behind the inferno are still shrouded in mystery and people have a right to know what really happened.”