Times of India; Ankur Jain; Sunday , June 26 , 2011,
AHMEDABAD: He was shattered and had lost faith in the system when after a three-year-long battle and several appeals, all he got in the response to his RTI query against a school was a packet with half a kilogram newspaper waste through post.
But now Gujarat Information Commission has come to the rescue of Shailesh Patel, a resident of Odhav who had filed the RTI against a school seeking information, and fined the erring school Rs 25,000 stating in its order that the respondent has been denied information without any reason cited. The order of fine came on June 18.
Suspecting malpractices in hiring of teachers and showing ghost students to get government grants, Patel had filed an RTI application in 2008 seeking information about appointment of three teachers from Democratic Higher Secondary School in Gomtipur.
But Patel never got a response from the school and later, he filed an appeal with the district education office (DEO) on June 29, 2009.
"The DEO served the school three show-cause notices asking them to be present with a reply on why action shouldn't be taken on them. But the school authorities ignored the DEO's notice," said Patel, who later filed an appeal with Gujarat Information Commission.
The case came up for hearing after two years on February, 2011. But school authorities gave it a miss and the commission ordered the school to provide all the information within 15 days and attend the next hearing on March 18.
"During the hearing, school authorities told the commission that they had never received any application from Patel and so I gave them one during the hearing itself," said Patel.
The commission ordered the authorities that Patel be given the desired information before the next hearing on April 8.
"School authorities got a new way to dodge the rules and during the hearing on April 8 said they have sent the details on April 7. After the hearing when I reached home, there was a sealed registered post parcel with 500 gm of trash inside," said Patel.
Patel who runs a hardware business and has been fighting corruption in schools using RTI since 2006, points out that many schools in Ahmedabad show students who are in other schools as being enrolled with them so as to get permission for extra classes and he wants to bust this scam.
But now Gujarat Information Commission has come to the rescue of Shailesh Patel, a resident of Odhav who had filed the RTI against a school seeking information, and fined the erring school Rs 25,000 stating in its order that the respondent has been denied information without any reason cited. The order of fine came on June 18.
Suspecting malpractices in hiring of teachers and showing ghost students to get government grants, Patel had filed an RTI application in 2008 seeking information about appointment of three teachers from Democratic Higher Secondary School in Gomtipur.
But Patel never got a response from the school and later, he filed an appeal with the district education office (DEO) on June 29, 2009.
"The DEO served the school three show-cause notices asking them to be present with a reply on why action shouldn't be taken on them. But the school authorities ignored the DEO's notice," said Patel, who later filed an appeal with Gujarat Information Commission.
The case came up for hearing after two years on February, 2011. But school authorities gave it a miss and the commission ordered the school to provide all the information within 15 days and attend the next hearing on March 18.
"During the hearing, school authorities told the commission that they had never received any application from Patel and so I gave them one during the hearing itself," said Patel.
The commission ordered the authorities that Patel be given the desired information before the next hearing on April 8.
"School authorities got a new way to dodge the rules and during the hearing on April 8 said they have sent the details on April 7. After the hearing when I reached home, there was a sealed registered post parcel with 500 gm of trash inside," said Patel.
Patel who runs a hardware business and has been fighting corruption in schools using RTI since 2006, points out that many schools in Ahmedabad show students who are in other schools as being enrolled with them so as to get permission for extra classes and he wants to bust this scam.
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