No relief to private schools to get out of RTI ambit Jammu, July 11: The J&K High Court at Jammu today ordered the J&K State Information Commission (SIC) to file objections in the matter of writ petition filed by Banyan International School, Babliana, Jammu seeking quashment of landmark orders passed by the State Information Commission declaring Private Schools within the ambit of Right to Information Act 2009. The Bench presided by Justice A M Magrey, Judge while hearing the pleas of the counsel for the Petitioner School, directed the State Information Commission, and other respondents to file objections to the Writ petition within two weeks. The prayer of the Banyan International School, Babliana to stay the operation of the orders of the Commission SIC-J-A/15/2013 dated 23.05.2013, however, was not entertained by the High Court. A caveat was also filed by Mr. Raj Dev Sharma. The petitioner school was represented by Mr. Sunil Sethi (Sr. Advocate) and the respondent was represented by Mr. Srishti Paul Mengi Advocate. It is pertinent to mention that the SIC in an appeal filed by one RTI Activist Raj Dev Sharma seeking information related to a private school, the Banyan International School, including information about the recognition, affiliation, fee structure, school management committee, the income & expenditure and particulars of parents association of the school. SIC has ordered the Director, School Education, Jammu to procure the information sought by the applicant regarding the fee structure etc, failing which appropriate action should be initiated for de-recognition of the said school. The State Information Commission in its final hearing took the cognizance of the matter and observed that the issues related to the management and regulation of the schools responsible for promotion of education were so important for the development of the nation that it cannot be left at the whims, fancies, idiosyncrasies and caprices of the private institutions whether funded or not by the Government. “Today, the state of Jammu & Kashmir is facing a difficult task of ensuring social justice and equality to all the section of the society. The important role the Right to Information plays in achieving this objective can’t be unstated. It is in this context that section 2 (f) (iv) recognizes that the non-state actors shall also have statutory obligation to disclose the information which would be useful and necessary for the people they serve,” the Commission observed. Irked by the order of SIC the school has approached the J&K High Court for the quashment of the order and its operation which it failed.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 18:21:34 +0000
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