Times of India: Pune: Wednesday,
March 22, 2017.
Private
unaided trusts or academic institutions which are not receiving any
"substantial financial aid" from the government do not fall within
the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, the state information
commission's Pune bench has ruled.
The bench,
presided over by information commissioner Ravindra Jadhav, has set aside an
order of February 4, 2015 by the first appeal officer and block education
officer of Panchgani panchayat samiti. The impugned (under challenge) order had
directed the New Era High School at Panchgani, near Mahabaleshwar, to supply
information regarding its teaching, non-teaching staff and other aspects under
the RTI Act.
The high
school, which offers CBSE and Cambridge IGCSE curricula from Std I to XII, is
run by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of India.
In June 2015,
the institution had moved a second appeal before the SIC Pune bench, arguing
that it is a permanently unaided school. That, it was neither a public
authority as defined under Section 2 of the RTI Act nor was it directly or
indirectly receiving any "substantial financial assistance" from the
government. "The term substantially financed is critical here in the
context of the rulings by the higher courts regarding applicability of RTI Act
to private unaided institutions," lawyer Shivraj Kadam, who represented
the institution, told TOI on Tuesday.
The SIC bench
referred to a judgment by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court on August
20, 2009 and held in an order on March 10 that it was amply clear from this
ruling that RTI Act provisions cannot be applied to those unaided institutions
which are not getting any substantial financial aid from the government.
The high
court had ruled that private unaided schools and colleges cannot fall within
the definition of 'Public Authority' under Section 2 (J) of the RTI Act.
Further referring to direct or indirect financing by the government, the high
court had said, "The term 'substantially financed' has been repeatedly
used by the Parliament with a view to exclude such institutions which are
financed directly or indirectly with a small or little contribution of funds by
the appropriate government. The Parliament has deliberately used the word
'substantially' and this court finds that there is wisdom in doing so."
Referring to
other two rulings by the Punjab and Haryana high court, the SIC bench held,
"It would not be a good precedent to direct respondent no. 2 (New Era
School principal) to supply the information in so much as the said respondent
might be imparting education and performing public functions, however, is not
receiving substantial grant-in-aid."
Nitin
Uttamrao Kokate, a resident of Koparkhairane in Navi Mumbai, had sought the
information from the school and the same was turned down by the school
principal following which he had approached the first appeal officer at
Panchgani panchayat samiti. "The SIC bench's latest order comes as a major
relief for similarly placed private unaided institutions across the
state," said Kadam.
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