Difficulty in collating information not ground to refuse disclosure under RTI Act: Delhi HC

Stating that difficulty in collating information can't be a ground to not disclose it under the RTI Act, the Delhi High Court has directed the city government to provide information pertaining to penalty imposed on school teachers for giving private tuitions.

Justice Subramonium Prasad dismissed a petition by the Delhi government against an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) asking it to furnish the relevant data and asserted that a public authority cannot refuse to provide such information only because it is not available at one place and would take a long time to collate.

The court said that the object of the Right to Information (RTI) Act is to ensure transparency in the functioning of various departments and it cannot be thwarted on the ground that the information being sought is voluminous.

"This Court is inclined to dismiss the present Writ Petition with a direction to the Petitioner (Delhi government) to provide the information sought for by the Respondent (RTI applicant) in respect of both Government and aided schools and in respect of private schools. The Petitioner is directed to provide information of all such cases where major penalty has been imposed on the teacher for taking private tuitions," said the court in an order passed on 2 May.

"A Public Authority cannot take a stand that since the information sought is not available at one place and it will take a long time to collate the same, therefore, the information cannot be provided under the RTI Act. Difficulty in collating the information is not a ground under the RTI Act not to give the information," the court said.

The RTI applicant had sought to know in how many cases the Department of Education took action against teachers for giving private tuition in Delhi.

With respect to the unaided schools, the Delhi government argued in the high court that the Department of Education has no control over them and, therefore, it cannot provide information regarding action taken by them against their teachers for giving private tuitions.

It was also said there was no direction from the Vigilance Department of the

Department of Education to maintain a list of cases of misconduct.

In its order, the court observed that under the Delhi School Education Rules, if a private/unaided school intends to impose a major penalty against a teacher, the approval of the Director of Education is necessary and therefore the authorities must have the information sought by the RTI applicant.

"The Petitioner must have the information regarding the penalty taken against a teacher for taking private tuitions in both Government and private schools. The fact that the information might not be available at one place cannot be reason to deny such information. Efforts have to be made by the Department to collate the information and then give it to the Respondent," the court said.

"The object of the RTI Act is to ensure transparency in the functioning of the Departments and this cannot be thwarted by the State Government on the ground that voluminous information is being sought and, therefore, the information cannot be provided. The Government also cannot deny information on the ground that it will take time to collate the information," it stated.