Right to Information (RTI) activist Aakash Vedak has knocked on the doors of the office of Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao, after Mumbai University (MU) failed to provide information he had requested despite an order from the State Information Commission (SIC).
Mr. Vedak has also written yet again to State Information Commissioner (Brihanmumbai) Ajit Kumar Jain, and has demanded in both letters that action be taken against the university authorities.
In November, the SIC had fined the MU public information officer ₹25,000 and had ordered that the university provide the information Mr. Vedak had requested by December 10.
Mr. Vedak (22), a law student of Thane Municipal Law College, had filed an RTI in October 2017, seeking information on income and expenditure incurred by MU through re-evaluation and photocopying of answer sheets. When he did not get the data, Mr. Vedak filed the first appeal in December 2017. While the university released information about the income, it did not share details about expenditure.
In its verdict on Mr. Vedak’s second appeal in April this year, the SIC ordered the MU public information officer to give the information before April 28. “When they failed to do so, I complained to the SIC in May. In its November 15 order, the commission had categorically said the information should be given to me by December 10, and yet it has not been sent. The more MU delays its response, the stronger is my will to chase the information,” he said.
According to Mr. Vedak the university once charged students ₹500 for each paper sent for re-evaluation, but has now reduced it to ₹250. However, professors would only get paid ₹25 per paper. “My RTI has revealed that the university earns crores through re-evaluation and photocopying applications. But what is the expenditure? It is important to know where the remaining money goes,” he said.
Former Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi criticised the university authorities for the delay. “It appears that the SIC’s order has not been complied with. This is absolute lawlessness,” Mr. Gandhi said.
The MU public information officer and public relations officer refused to comment on the matter when contacted by The Hindu .
