Does Directorate of Education maintain admission records of a Public Unaided school?
13 Mar, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Directorate of Education (DoE) seeking reasons for rejection of admission of his son in Summer Fields School, New Delhi. The Public Information Officer (PIO) informed the appellant that the information is not available in the records as the same is not required to be maintained. The First Appellate Authority (FAA) observed that the required information is not available because the admission of child in a Public Unaided school is purely based on the management decision of the school and hence the record is not maintained by DoE.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that the Management Committee of the said school comprises two of members of the Directorate of Education. The CIC directed the PIO to obtain the Minutes of the meeting of the Management Committee of the school and if the Minutes refer to the admission exams held for class then provide the same to the appellant. The CIC also directed the PIO to provide to the appellant any other document in the possession of the Department of Education dealing with said admissions or those that can be accessed as per rules by the Department through the Management Committee members from the school.
Comments
Information under the RTI Act includes those documents which can be accessed by a public authority under any existing rules.
Citation: Mr. Rupesh Arora v. Directorate of Education in File No: CIC/AD/A/2013/000554, CIC/AD/C/2012/002295
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1117
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission