In a writ petition under Article 226, the High Court of Madras dismissed the petitioner's challenge to an order declining information under the RTI Act. The Court upheld exemptions claiming the data was voluminous and compilation would disproportionately divert manpower.
The writ petition was dismissed with no costs to any party.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 13.03.2020
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE M.GOVINDARAJ
W.P.NO.6566 OF 2020
Dr.M.Rajaram Narayanan ... Petitioner Vs. 1.Tamil Nadu State Information Commission Rep. By its Registrar No.2, Thiyagaraya Road, Teynampet, Chennai – 600 019. 2.Appellate Authority and Deputy Registrar (P) Anna University Chennai – 600 025. 3.Public Information Officer Deputy Registrar (S) Anna University Chennai – 600 025. 4.The Director Centre for Affiliation of Institutions Anna University Chennai – 600 025. ... Respondents
PRAYER: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for the issuance of Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, to call for the records relating to the proceedings of the 3rd respondent dated 03.09.2019 in Lr.No.525/PIO/AU-CHENNAI/2019 the consequential proceedings of the 2nd respondent dated 10.10.2019 in Lr.No.525/AA-DR(P)/AU-CHENNAI/2019 and the proceedings of the 1st resondent dated 28.11.2019 in case No.SA10396/D/2019 quash the same in so far as it relates to denial information sought for by the petitioner in Sl.No.9 of the application dated 14.08.2019 under the Right to Information Act, 2005 and direct the respondents to give information sought for by the petitioner in his application dated 14.08.2019.
For Petitioner :Mr.R.N.Amarnath For Respondent-1 :Ms.V.Annalakshmi Government Advocate For Respondents 2 to 4 :Mr.L.P.Shanmugasundaram Special Government Pleader
O R D E R
The petitioner has filed an application under Right to Information Act, 2005 seeking information about the UG., PG., Ph.D., Degrees with Specialisation in the format given by him along with the Class obtained qualification and year of completion along with the name of the awarding University for all the Faculty Members as uploaded in the University Web Portal by the Affiliated Colleges of the University for the Academic Year 20192020; (ii) the details of Ph.D., awarded, thesis title, register number of Ph.D., Degree Certificate of all the Faculty Members as uploaded in the University Web Portal by the affiliated Colleges of the University for the Academic Year 2019-2020; (iii) date of joining in the college or all the Faculty Members as uploaded in the University Web Portal by the affiliated colleges of the University for the academic year 2019-2020 in the enclosed format given by him; (iv) date of relieving (if any) of the Faculty Members as uploaded in the University Web Portal by the affiliated colleges of the University for the academic year 2019-2020 in the enclosed format given by him; (v) details of Aadhar and PAN card numbers for all the Faculty Members as uploaded in the University Web Portal by the affiliated colleges of the University for the academic year 2019-2020 in the enclosed format; (vi) details of scale of pay and gross salary amount for each of the Faculty Members in the list (2019-2020) in enclosed format; (vii) details of Income Tax Deduction (I any) as per data given; (viii) whether the Inspection Committee for affiliation checked the Form 16 of all the Faculty Members working in the colleges in the enclosed format; and (ix) to furnish the photo copies of Ph.D., Degree certificates of all documents as per data given in CD (RTI Lr 33-(2019)).
dated 09.10.2019. Against which, the petitioner has approached the Tamil Nadu Information Commission / the first respondent herein. The first respondent State Information Commissioner, by his order dated 28.11.2019 has confirmed the order of the Public Information Officer and instructed the petitioner to submit a detailed complaint to the Vice Chancellor, Anna University directly with a further direction to the Vice Chancellor, Anna University to look into the allegation of same Professors working in different Colleges with bogus certificates. Aggrieved over the same, the petitioner is before this Court.
approach the Vice Chancellor, Anna University with specific complaints against the Faculty Members for appropriate action. I do find that as stated by the Information Commission, the Faculty Members were running above 800. Collecting all these information as sought for by the petitioner will unnecessarily and disproportionately divert the manpower of the University and it will ultimately affect imparting education to the students of the University. The University is also running classes for different branches of Engineering. In the considered opinion of this Court when the petitioner has an avenue of getting all the information from the individual units, he cannot compel the affiliating body to collect all the information from the individual units which is vast and voluminous. The compilation of such data will disproportionately divert the manpower and resources of the public authority namely the third respondent. In such circumstances, the order passed by the Information Commissioner is justified and the writ petition merits no consideration and accordingly, stands dismissed. No costs.
Sd/-
Assistant Registrar
//True Copy//
Sub Assistant Registrar
TK
To
1.The Registrar
Tamil Nadu State Information Commission
No.2, Thiyagaraya Road,
Teynampet, Chennai – 600 019.
2.Appellate Authority and Deputy Registrar (P)
Anna University
Chennai – 600 025.
3.Public Information Officer
Deputy Registrar (S)
Anna University
Chennai – 600 025.
4.The Director
Centre for Affiliation of Institutions
Anna University
Chennai – 600 025.
+1cc to Mr.L.P.Shanmugasundaram, Advocate, S.R.No.23120
+1cc to Mr.R.N.Amarnath, Advocate, S.R.No.22586 https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/hcservices/
+1cc to Mr.G.R.Associates, Advocate, SR.22390
+1cc to the Government Pleader, S.R.No.23228
W.P.NO.6566 OF 2020
PP(CO) CB(31/07/2020)
3 issues framed by the court
Whether the petitioner can compel the affiliating university to compile voluminous data regarding faculty qualifications and salaries from all affiliated colleges.
Whether the exemption sought by the Public Information Officer and upheld by the Information Commission under Section 8(1)(g) and 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act is justified.
Whether the writ petition challenging the order declining information can be successfully maintained.
2 provisions across 1 enactments
Dr. M. Rajaram Narayanan
Tamil Nadu State Information Commission
Appellate Authority and Deputy Registrar (P), Anna University
Public Information Officer, Anna University
Director, Centre for Affiliation of Institutions, Anna University
M. Govindaraj
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
