Times
of India: Aurangabad: Sunday, 20 December 2015.
An advocacy
group has lodged a complaint against the state directorate of technical
education (DTE) with the State Information Commission for allegedly failing to
show any compliance towards the proactive disclosure mandated under the RTI Act
on its official website.
In a
complaint lodged under Section 18 of the Transparency Act with information
commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad, Sajag Nagarik Manch, the advocacy group, has
taken a dig at the DTE for 'showing utter disregard towards the RTI Act'.
The
grievances against the directorate have been raised close on the heels of
Gaikwad recently issuing notices to the state chief secretary, asking for
ensuring suo- moto disclosure by various government departments twice a year.
The action was taken in response to a similar complaint filed by the Sajag
Nagarik Manch under Section 18 of the RTI Act.
A visit to
RTI section on DTE website (www.dtemaharashtra.gov.in) draws blank with no
information uploaded at all. It shows the section was updated in November,
2011. Along with the directorate, some of its regional directorates too were
found violating the RTI Act by not making proactive disclosure on its websites.
Vivek
Velankar of Sajag Nagarik Manch on Saturday it was shocking to see that the DTE
authorities "were not bothered at all about the implementation of the RTI
Act".
He added,
"Such scant regards for the RTI Act by public authority like DTE is
appalling. It shows how blunt these public authorities have become in defying
the important legislation in the form of RTI Act. The necessary proactive
disclosure by DTE could benefit of thousands of students and their
parents."
Known as the
state-level regulatory body for various professional courses offered by
institutes in Maharashtra, the DTE has got the mandate to maintain and enhance
the standard and quality of technical education by laying down the policies and
supervising the hundreds of institutes coming under it.
It is the
sole competent authority for carrying out centralised admission processes
(CAPs) for different professional courses including popular streams such as
engineering, management and pharmacy.
Section 4(1)
(b) of the RTI Act 2005 deals with the proactive disclosure. It is basically a
17-point information by public authorities for benefit of citizens. The
procedure followed in decision-making process including channels of supervision
and accountability forms one of the key revelations under the 'proactive
disclosure. Such voluntary disclosure of information is expected to benefit the
student community, besides brining in much needed transparency and
accountability in the functioning of the DTE.
Speaking with
ToI, educational activist Tukaram Saraf said DTE was averse to the RTI Act for
the simple reason that it does not want accountability in its working. "It
is unfortunate that DTE authorities have been mocking RTI Act for months now
and the state education department has become mute spectator. It is upto the
state information commissioner now to deal the matter with iron hand. A stern
action is necessary to set a right precedent and ensure the transparency Act is
implemented in letter and spirit even after a decade of its formation," he
said.
When
contacted, officiating DTE director Subhash Mahajan said, "The RTI link of
the directorate's website was updated in past and some technical glitches might
have occurred now. I am not aware that what exactly has happened to particular
link now. I will seek necessary details from concerned staffers."
Mahajan told
TOI that the suo motu disclosure would be beneficial for stakeholders.
Section 19(8)
(a) of the RTI Act enables the state information commissioner to directly order
the concern government authorities to take any such steps as may be necessary
to secure compliance with the provisions of this Act, including by making
necessary changes to its practices in relation to the maintenance, management
and destruction of records.
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