The Hindu: Kerala: Saturday, 18 March 2023.
The State Information Commission (SIC) has penalised a former headmistress of a government-aided school for withholding information pertaining to student intake that was sought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
State Information Commissioner K.L. Vivekanandan, in his order, imposed a fine of ₹25,000 on V.K. Molly, a former headmistress of St. Teresa’s Anglo Indian Girls High School in Kannur. She was found to have withheld details of Class I admissions in the school in 2016 from Kannur native Biju Santhosh.
In his complaint, he claimed that his daughter had been denied admission to Class I by the school authorities, including the headmistress, and treated with utter disdain. Suspecting a lack of transparency in the admission process to the aided school, Mr. Santhosh submitted a RTI application on April 8, 2017.
After receiving no response for a month, he approached the Kannur District Education Officer (DEO) who furnished a false reply citing a Supreme Court judgment to deny the information requested.
The SIC took up the case after the complainant registered a second appeal under the provisions of the RTI Act. Finding Sister Molly guilty of having withheld information, the SIC observed that aided institutions were legally bound to ensure transparency in details regarding admissions to seats other than those coming under the quota allocated to the school managements.
The State Information Commission (SIC) has penalised a former headmistress of a government-aided school for withholding information pertaining to student intake that was sought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
State Information Commissioner K.L. Vivekanandan, in his order, imposed a fine of ₹25,000 on V.K. Molly, a former headmistress of St. Teresa’s Anglo Indian Girls High School in Kannur. She was found to have withheld details of Class I admissions in the school in 2016 from Kannur native Biju Santhosh.
In his complaint, he claimed that his daughter had been denied admission to Class I by the school authorities, including the headmistress, and treated with utter disdain. Suspecting a lack of transparency in the admission process to the aided school, Mr. Santhosh submitted a RTI application on April 8, 2017.
After receiving no response for a month, he approached the Kannur District Education Officer (DEO) who furnished a false reply citing a Supreme Court judgment to deny the information requested.
The SIC took up the case after the complainant registered a second appeal under the provisions of the RTI Act. Finding Sister Molly guilty of having withheld information, the SIC observed that aided institutions were legally bound to ensure transparency in details regarding admissions to seats other than those coming under the quota allocated to the school managements.
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