The
Hindu: Chennai: Friday, 20 February 2015.
In a decision
that would benefit students, parents and the public, the Madras High Court has
directed Tiruvalluvar University in Vellore district to dispose of within a
month a representation that information about the functioning of the university
be published in its website.
Disposing of
a PIL, the First Bench comprising the Chief Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice M.M.
Sundresh said that the university should look into the mandate contained in
section 4 of the RTI Act (Obligations of public authorities) in this context.
The petitioner
submitted that the university was established in 2002.
Since then,
the university had been using computers for all its administrative purposes.
The university sends its communications to its affiliated colleges, State and
Central governments and academic bodies through internet.
No
information on website
This being
so, the university had not provided any information on its website about its
functioning. The university was a public authority that should comply with the
RTI Act.
Courses
and teachers
Primarily,
student aspirants and their parents had every right to know about the courses
offered by the affiliated and approved colleges, list of qualified teachers,
decisions taken by the finance, establishment and sports committees, syndicate
and academic council. It was unfortunate that the information was not available
in the website.
Being a
public authority, the university was mandated to furnish all information on its
website so that access to such records was facilitated as per the RTI Act, the
petitioner said.
He submitted
a representation dated January 29 this year to the university containing the
request. No action was taken. Hence, the present petition.
The
University was required to furnish information regarding courses, colleges and
list of teachers on its website.
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