The Asian Age: Mumbai: Friday, 12 February 2016.
The University of Mumbai has been pulled up by the Chief Information Commissioner for not uploading data under 17 different heads that all universities have been asked to upload suo moto as per the RTI Act. The CIC has asked the university to comply by February 15 and ensure the data be updated regularly.
While presiding over the hearing of a complaint filed by one J.R. Vora, CIC Ratnakar Gaikwad questioned why MU had failed to upload data as per clause 4 of the Act that stipulates proactive disclosure of details of the organisation. Mr Gaikwad also pointed out the university had failed to comply with the other clause of the Act that expected institutions and organisations to do proactive disclosure within 120 days of the Act coming into force.
In its reply, the university that was being represented by the appellate authority and the registrar on behalf of the vice-chancellor informed Mr Gaikwad that the university had done proactive disclosure under seven heads and work on collating information under the remaining 10 heads was underway. “Due to the magnitude of the work and size of the university, work on proactively disclosing information under all the stipulated 17 heads has been delayed. Information under the seven heads has already been provided on the university website and details under the other heads will be uploaded soon too,” said Dr Khan, registrar, MU.
After the hearing, as per clause 19 (8) (k) of the RTI Act Mr Gaikwad instructed MU through Dr Khan to upload details under all heads by February 15. According to MU sources, since the Act was enforced in 2005, various departments that were expected to provide suo moto information to be uploaded on the MU website had failed to do so. Repeated reminders also failed to elicit compliance during the tenure of the previous VCs that included Dr Vijay Khole, Dr Chandra Krishnamurthy and Dr Rajan Welukar.
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