Kerala - Kochi   

State Information Officer's directive stayed

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court has stayed the directive of the State Information Officer to the Chempazhanthi S.N. College to appoint public information officers under the Right to Information Act.

The stay order was passed by Justice S. Siri Jagan on a petition filed by the College Principal.

The petitioner contended that aided colleges did not come under the purview of the Act.

The order of the State Information Officer maintained that since the college was affiliated to the university and the Government was paying salaries, the aided colleges were bound to appoint information officers.

The Principal contended that only public authorities were to appoint information officers. The main objective of the Act was to make the Government and Government instrumentalities accountable to the governed. The petitioner said that aided colleges were not public authorities.

Merely because a Government nominee was included in the selection committee did not mean that it was a public authority.

The petition sought to quash the order of the State Information Officer.

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