Principal of Govt. School refuses to provide information under RTI
1 year ago
I am a teacher at a government-aided school in Mumbai. The headmaster of the school refuses to provide any information under RTI Act, 2005. The Public Information Officer (PIO) completely ignores the RTI applications and the headmaster, who also happened to be the First Appellate Authority, doesn't hold any hearings. The current matter is that the headmaster has challenged the order of the Ld. Information Commissioner (Mumbai) imposing a fine of Rs. 25000/- upon him for his non-compliance with the RTI Act, in the Hon'ble High Court, being Writ Petition No. WP/344/2020. He has not served me any copy of the Writ as well. The impugned Order by the Hon. Information Commissioner was passed in 2018.
The headmaster has artfully succeeded to buy time and delay the matter for over 4.5 years now. He is retiring in the next academic year and would tactfully avoid paying any fines.
I have obtained a copy of the Writ Petition from the CC dept. of Bombay High Court. He has tried to misguide the court by averring false statements in the said writ.
What should I do? Can I move a Preacepie or Should I file an Interim Application (IA)?
Please help
Abdul Aziz Shaikh
Have you not been made a party in that case in High Court? If not then move and IA to become the party first then you can put forward your concerns and reservations on the case. If you are already a party then mention the case and bring it to the daily list for hearing.