Private recognised schools cannot claim exemption from disclosing information to education directorate under Right to Information Act, a full bench of the Central Information Commission has held thus virtually bringing them under the ambit of transparency law.
“The issues relating to management and regulation of schools responsible for promotion of education are so important for development that it cannot be left at whims and caprices of private bodies, whether funded or not by the government,” the bench said in its order deciding on disclosure of service records of a teacher employed at a private school.
Bindu Khanna, a teacher at Pinnacle School at Panchsheel Enclave, had filed an RTI application with education directorate seeking to know her service records.
But despite orders of the directorate to provide the details, the school maintained that it was a private body and hence the Act was not applicable on it. The school cited sections of the law that exempt the disclosure of personal information.