Pvt medical, engg colleges under purview of RTI Act

By Vaibhav Ganjapure & Ranjit Deshmukh,
Nagpur - TNN 27 Sep 2008,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Nagpur/Pvt_medical_engg_colleges_under_purview_of_RTI_Act/articleshow/3533077.cms

Private medical and engineering non-aided colleges can no longer choose to hide information sought under the Right to Information Act, 2005.

In a landmark order, information commissioner for Nagpur and Amravati Vilas Patil has made it compulsory for all private engineering and medical colleges to reveal information under RTI to every applicant. These colleges had earlier refused to provide information on the pretext that they were beyond the purview of the Act.

The order was delivered in response to an appeal filed by Rajkumar Bhoyar against first appellate officer, principal of Yashwantrao Chavan College of engineering (YCCE), Wanadongri and YCCE public
information officer.

Earlier, private engineering and medical institutions refused to divulge information under RTI to applicants as they "were not governed by the government nor they received any government grant and hence the RTI was not applicable to them, Patil told TOI and said he took help of two Supreme Court judgments for passing the order.

"As per verdict of apex court, all private engineering and medical institutions were governed by the University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the Medical Council of India (MCI)," Patil said.