Consumer Protection Council of Tamil Naidu has requested University Grants Commission (UGC) to instruct ‘deemed to be universities’ to appoint a public information officer to file the details sought under the Right to Information Act (RTI) 2005.
Consumer Protection Council of Tamil Naidu has requested University Grants Commission (UGC) to instruct ‘deemed to be universities’ to appoint a public information officer to file the details sought under the Right to Information Act (RTI) 2005.
S Pushpavanam, council secretary conferred that he made the request to UGC after many of his Right to Information applications written to the ‘deemed to be went unanswered. He also mentioned that these ‘deemed to be universities’ were receiving funds from the government like other universities but they have not been responding to RTI applications.
S Pushpavanam, council secretary said “I could not follow them up through appeals as they did not have any public information officer and appellate information officer. Their websites do not mention anything about RTI giving the impression that they have nothing to do with it”.
The Consumer Protection Council wrote a letter to UGC seeking clarification in June. The council said the UGC responded on the matter on July 30. The UGC attached a letter received from the Central Information Commission (CIC) which is the apex body of the RTI Act in March 2007. The letter indicated that the ‘deemed to be universities’ were covered under the Right To Information Act.
Pushpavanam conferred “The very fact that the UGC has referred the matter to CIC shows they wanted to be sure. Although CIC has written to UGC in 2007, the have managed to suppress this till today by not mentioning anything about RTI on their websites”.
For More Such Articles, News Update, Events, and Many More Click Here
