College fined for not replying to RTI queries

MUMBAI: A Khar college has been fined by the Maharashtra State Information Commission because it refused to reply to queries filed under the Right To Information

MUMBAI: A Khar college has been fined by the Maharashtra State Information Commission because it refused to reply to queries filed under the Right To Information Act.

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Hansraj Jivandas College of Education has been asked to pay Rs2.25 lakh for not replying to nine queries sent to the institute, even after repeated reminders.

“There have been rumours about the institute misusing the monetary grants that they receive and I have filed a total of 12 RTIs since June 2015. Nine of them have not yet been replied to,” said Krishnan Kutty, an advocate.

He added that the commission had sent the institute several reminders including show cause notices since January 2016, but to no avail. These RTIs have sought information on the institute’s usage of government grants and seminar grants as well as the number of holidays allowed to professors as per UGC rules.

While the commission has sent a notice to the institute informing them of a fine of Rs25,000 on each of the RTI query they defaulted on, the college told HT that they had been framed.

“The college has received 90 RTIs over the past few years and we have replied to each and every one of them well within the time frame,” said principal Anita Swami.