Central Information Commission Judgements

Mr. Keyur J. Gandhi vs Central Board Of Secondary … on 27 November, 2009

Central Information Commission
Mr. Keyur J. Gandhi vs Central Board Of Secondary … on 27 November, 2009
                   CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
                    Club Building, Opposite Ber Sarai Market,
                      Old JNU Campus, New Delhi - 110067.
                              Tel: +91-11-26161796

                                                     Decision No.CIC/SG/A/2009/002575/5720
                                                           Appeal No. CIC/SG/A/2009/002575

Appellant                                  :         Mr. Keyur J. Gandhi,
                                                     B/8-9 Vrajdham Society,
                                                     Aksharchowk,
                                                     Vadodara,
                                                     Gujarat-390020

Respondent                                 :         Mr. Kushal Singh

APIO & Asst. Secretary (Affiliation)
Central Board of Secondary Education.

                                                     "Shiksha Kendra", 2,
                                                     Community Centre, Preet Vihar,
                                                     Delhi-110301

RTI application filed on                   :         10/05/2009
PIO replied                                :         09/06/2009
First Appeal filed on                      :         30/06/2009
First Appellate Authority order            :         03/08/2009
Second Appeal Received on                  :         12/11/2009
Notice of Hearing Sent on                  :         14/10/2009
Hearing Held on                            :         27/11/2009

 S.No           Information Sought                                    PIO's Reply
 1.   The current affiliation status of Delhi         DPS Kalai is affiliated upto 31/03/2009
      Public School, Kalali & Harni in                for its Sr. Secondary level and DPS, Harni
      Vadodara with CBSE. Provide a certified         is affiliated upto 31/03/2012 for its
      copy of the same. What action taken             Secondary stage and copy of same (total
      against the school after Appellant's            07 paes) will be issued on payment of Rs
      various complaints. Provide by laws of          2/per page.
      Society running above both Schools &            The board has asked comments from the
      remuneration ot trustees for last 5 years.      school. Vide letter dated 08/06/2009 Copy
                                                      of bye-laws of society of both the school
                                                      contains 40 pages will be provided on
                                                      payment of Rs. 2/-per page with postal
                                                      charges i.e. total Rs. 150/
 2.     Appellant had made several complaints to      The Appellant had not sought any
        CBSE by email and registered post & also      information but         he had registered
        through the public portal (website) to the    complaints which can neither be sorted
        Chairman.    Only one of which was            out nor replied within short notice.
        replied, what was the reason? In how
        many days will Appellant get reply? What
        corrective & preventive actions had the
        Department taken/taking? In how much
                                                                                  Page no 1 of 4
      time Respondert office has to reply to
     complaints in writing what disciplinary
     actions board has or will initiate against
     not duty bound officers & persons
     involved? Website of CBSE claiming that
     "interact with chairman" that query will
     be replied till date. What is the reason?
     When Appellant all queries will be
     replied? Dates are as under 1, 7, 28 Jan
     2009.
3.   Numbers of schools currently offering           Seven schools name DPS is affiliated to
     education under name of DPS in Gujarat          CBSE from Gujarat State, CBSE does not
     State. Name of the trust, society an            have information about any other school
     trustees running the schools, Balance           running in the state with the same name.
     sheet & profit loss account of all schools      As per record Respondent replied that
     charted accountant & auditor. Provide fee       copy of the required documents will be
     structure under all heads offered by all        provided on payment of Rs 2/per page
     above schools since last 5 years or started     with postal charges total Rs. 700/
     later, from the date of their inception.
4.   Provide the name and No, of teachers,           List of teachers for the session 2005-06
     provisional, permanent and any other            available in the records contains 14 pages
     category with proof of their educational        will be provided on payment of Rs. 2/- per
     qualifications including principal year         page with postal charges i.e total Rs. 70/
     wise, offered their jobs in Delhi Public
     School affiliation no. 430053 & salary of
     all above persons year wise for last 5

years, or joined later from the date of their
joining.

5. Delhi public School, Kalai & Harni DPS, Kalai is inspected two fiems first at
Vadodara how many times they are being its Secondary level and another for its
inspected by CBSE & what is the Senior Secondary stage and DPS, Harni is
inspection report? Provide copy of inspected one time at its Secondary stage.
reports. Copy of inspection reports as available in
the record contains 28 pages can be
provided on payment of Rs. 2/ per page
with postal charges i.e total Rs. 130/

6. The salary & perks of all employees of The Board is following he scale of
CBSE. Provide details in numbers with pay(salary) etc. as per pay scales followed
grade wise for last 5 years. for Central Government employees. The
list of staff members of CBSE is available
at CBSE website www.cbse,nic.in

7. The staff of CBSE office took contact The Board has more than 10,000 affiliated
number. But he never contacted. schools spread in all over India and
What does Respondent’s official duty aboard. More than 4,000 applications are
related to manual, if any, say about this. If pending for affiliation. Beside a lot of
he fails to perform his duty to citizens of other important work related examination,
India what actions board will initiate Academic and Administration are to be
against secretary, CBSE? In how much performed by the Secretary of board.
time. Therefore it is not possible for him to
attend the phone calls made by every

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caller even then.

8. DPS is given written instruction to buy The Board has neither such information
things from particular shop, is it legal? nor there is a provision in the affiliation
what is the financial terms between school Bye-laws of the Board.
and shop? Who is the owner? Provide
details. Meaning provide all the financial
transactions between them for last 5 year,
year wise.

9. Provide all fees and charges charged by 5 The information sought by the Appellant
private unaided CBSE affiliated schools in is not available with CBSE as such
each city of Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, information is not being complied by the
Bhavnagar, Vadodara, Bhuj in tabular Board on regular basis.
form ofr last 5 years, section wise like
nursery, primary, secondary, higher
secondary. If schools are less than 5
provide for all.

Grounds for First Appeal:

Appellant raised following facts/information what not provided or insufficient:

1. Appellant asked for current affiliation status of DPS, Kalai, Vadodara which was not
provided. Remuneration to trustees for last 5 years not provided. He requested for the
copy of letter dt. 08/06/2009 to school and their reply.

2. A specific time frame to reply letter received by CBSE was not provided.

3. Fee structure not provided for 5years

4. For last 5 years for salary of teachers & their respective list.

5. Copy of inspection report still awaited.

6. Salary & perks of all officers of CBSE for last 5 years grade wise in nos not provided.

7. Asked referring to CBSE official Duty manual. Not provided info on the basis of
documentation but very vague from the rule book and having no if at all.

8. Appellant requested to reply to all sub questions like financial terms between school and
Vidyarthi enterprise, name of owner financial transactions for last 5 years year wise.

9. Denial of information. Appellant requested to compile and provide.

Order of the First Appellate Authority:

FAA stated that what information sought by the Appellant was provided to him. Therefore the
required action in the matter had been taken by the board on time.

The PIO of the Board had already supplied the required information sought by the Appellant as
per the records/documents available with the Board to the Appellant on time and not denied any
facts.

Grounds for Second Appeal:

What raised in first Appeal was not considered by the FAA.

Relevant Facts emerging during Hearing:

The following were present:

Appellant: Mr. Keyur J. Gandhi on video conference from NIC Vadodara, Gujarat Studio;
Respondent: Mr. U.C.Bodh, AS on behalf of Mr. Kushal Singh, APIO & AS(Affiliation);

The PIO states that the CBSE does not have the details of remunerations paid to trustees;
he will provide this statement in writing to the Appellant. The PIO states that information about
schools is obtained only at the time of extension or at the time of affiliation. He will state this in
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writing to the Appellant. As regard to query-6 the respondent will provide the list of salaries of
all the employees to the Appellant.

Decision:

The appeal is allowed.

The PIO will provide the information mentioned above to the Appellant before 10
December 2009.

This decision is announced in open chamber.

Notice of this decision be given free of cost to the parties.
Any information in compliance with this Order will be provided free of cost as per Section 7(6) of RTI Act.

Shailesh Gandhi
Information Commissioner
27 November 2009
(In any correspondence on this decision, mention the complete decision number.)

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