The Hindu : New Delhi News : Sanskriti School a "public authority"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 28, 2007
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New Delhi

New Delhi

Sanskriti School a "public authority"

Prashant Pandey

CIC directs Principal to reply to application under RTI

NEW DELHI: The Capital's much sought after Sanskriti School at Chankyapuri, which was started by wives of senior civil servants of the Union Government, has been declared a "public authority", as defined under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, by the Central Information Commission (CIC). The CIC has directed the School Principal to reply to an application filed with the school as per the norms of the RTI Act.

Manju S. Kumar, a resident of Sheikh Sarai in South Delhi, had addressed the application to the Principal of Sanskriti School on July 11, 2006, seeking details of the contributions received from Government departments, ministries or non-government organisation by the school since its inception; details of admission given to Class IX students from March 15, 2006, to July 4, 2006; details of the children who had taken transfer certificates from the school on completion of Class VII for the same period; details of children who were given admission to Class IX without any written test during the same period and details of the services to which the parents of all the children belonged.

The Principal of Sanskriti School, through a letter on July 26, 2006, informed Ms. Kumar that it was a private school run by the wives of serving Civil Service officers and not a public authority under the RTI Act, 2005.

Not satisfied with the reply, Ms. Kumar filed a complaint with the CIC on August 2, 2006. She argued that the school had received a huge Government contribution for developing infrastructure like purchase of land and construction of building and, therefore, should come under the purview of the RTI Act.

The Commission called for comments of the Principal on October 12, 2006. In her reply on October 10, 2006, the Principal said that they were not a public authority as the school was started by a society registered under the Societies Registration Act.

Subsequently the CIC fixed this past Tuesday as the date of final hearing. Principal Gowri Ishwaran was present during the hearing, while the complainant Ms. Kumar neither sent her representative nor was present in person.

During the hearing, Ms. Ishwaran told the Commission that although the Government did not give any grant for day-to-day running of the school or for any other activity, it had given a substantial grant for setting up the infrastructure of the school in its initial phase.

Secondly, Ms. Ishwaran stated that the wife of the Cabinet Secretary is the ex-officio Chairperson of the Board of Management of the school and wives of other Civil Service officers are on the Board of Management.

While giving his decision, Information Commissioner O. P. Kejariwal said that on the basis of these two submissions the Commission concluded that Sanskriti School did come under the purview of the RTI Act 2005 as a "public authority".

"Hence it was incumbent upon them to set up the infrastructure for supply of information as required under the RTI Act and also to respond to the RTI applications," ruled Mr. Kejariwal.

Accordingly, the CIC has directed Ms. Ishwaran to reply by February 15 to the application filed by Ms. Kumar.

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