PROCEEDINGS OF THE ASSAM INFORMATION COMMISSION

Case No. KP(M)135/2007

Dated 07-02-2008

Name of the Complainant:
Shri S.M. Sarkar
Santi Lodge, A.R. Barua Road
Don Bosco Chariali Guwahati - 781001

Name of the Public Authority / SPIO:
Secretary, Board of Secondary Education

The following were present

  1. Shri D. Mahanata, Secy, SEBA
  2. Shri R. Bhuyan, Dy. Secy, SEBA
  3. Shri A Kalita, Asstt. Controller SEBA
  4. Shri S.M. Sarkar
Brief of the case
Shri S.M. Sarkar submitted a petition to the Commission on 19.11.2007 which was received by the Commission on 1.12.07, stating that the Secretary, Board of Secondary Education, Assam had refused to provide him the information he wanted from them

The information wanted by him were:
  1. Correction of the date of birth of his son Manaj Sarkar, Registration No. 02V/0846/007885/05. He alleged that the date of birth of his son was noted as 14.11.1991 instead of 4.11.1991. He wanted to know why the correction had not been done.
  2. The result of Class-X examination which Manaj Sarkar appeared was declared on 23.5.07 but in the result it was shown as "incomplete" and hence result was withheld. He had requested to know why that happened.
  3. The Code No. or any legal documents under which the Holy Child School, Bijini was recognized by the Secretary, Board of Secondary Education, Assam. He wanted a copy of the letter of such recognition.
Submission of the parties
The complainant submitted that he had applied to get the above information to the Board of Secondary Education, Assam on 20.8.07. The Board did not give him the information but sent him a letter on 6.11.07 requesting him to deposit an application fee of Rs. 10/- by bank draft and also to give full postal address of Manaj Sarkar. The Secretary, Board of Secondary Education, Assam further wanted to know the ground how the disclosure of the information was to serve any public purpose. The petitioner contended that he was the father of Manaj Sarkar who was a minor and there was no third party involved in the disclosure of information wanted by him.

Subsequently, he had received the information on points (i) and (ii) but they refused to give him the information on point (iii). He, therefore, submitted before the Commission to give suitable direction to the Secretary, Board of Secondary Education, Assam to disclose the information on point (iii).

The Secretary, Board of Secondary Education, Assam submitted that the date of birth had already been corrected in the Registration Card of Manaj Sarkar and the documents had been sent to the school through Sri Durga Goyary who is the computer teacher of the school who visited SEBA office at that time.

On point no. (ii) the Secretary, Board of Secondary Education, Assam submitted that the result of Manaj Sarkar was declared on 31.5.07 after correcting the computer data entry fault. It was a genuine fault and as soon as they detected it the result was declared.

On point no.(iii) the Secretary, Board of Secondary Education, Assam submitted that they wanted to know the relationship of the complainant with Manaj Sarkar and treated the later as the third party and hence the information was not given.

Observation of the Commission
The Commission found that the complainant had already received the information on points (i) & (ii). He was also provided photostat copy of the note sheet as approval for correction of the date of birth on 29/5 and the same was sent to the school through Sri Durga Goyary, Computer teacher of the Holy Child School, Bijini.

On point no. (iii) the stand taken by the Secretary is not tenable. The recognition of the school for imparting education to students cannot be treated as third party involvement and denied to citizen because this is a policy in public domain. The code number assigned to school is a public document and cannot be withheld on the plea of third party interest. It was improper for SEBA to have withheld this information.

The complainant was also given a photocopy of the note prepared by the Secretary, Board of Secondary Education, Assam and submitted to the Commission at the time of hearing wherein the details of the action taken on all the 3 points were elaborated. That made it clear that there was no deliberate attempt on the part of SEBA to deny information to the complainant except point no. (iii) in which they had taken the stand which was not in the true spirit of section 11 of the RTI Act, 2005.

Decision of the Commission
The Commission taking into account the pros and cons of the issues involved directed the Secretary, Board of Secondary Education, Assam to provide the copy of the letter issued to Holy Child School, Bijini allotting them the code no. free of cost within one week from the date of this order.

Sd/- (R.S. Mooshahary)
Chief Information Commissioner, Assam
Janata Bhawan, Dispur.


Sd/ (Dr. B K Gohain)
State Information Commissioner, Assam
Janata Bhawan, Dispur.

Authenticated true copy

(Jiauddin Ahmed)
Secretary, State Information Commission, Assam
Janata Bhawan, Dispur.

Memo No.SIC KP(M)135/2007 Dated February 07, 2008

CC:

  1. Shri D. Mahanata, Secy, Board of Secondary Education, Assam, Bamunimaidan, Guwahati.
  2. Shri R. Bhuyan, Dy. Secretary, Board of Secondary Education, Assam, Bamunimaidan, Guwahati
  3. Shri A. Kalita, Assistant Controller, Board of Secondary Education, Assam, Bamunimaidan, Guwahati
  4. Assistant Executive Engineer, PWD, Guwahati Rural Road Division, Fancy Bazar, Guwhati- 1
  5. Shri S.M. Sarkar, Advocate, Santi Lodge, A.R. Barua Road, Don Bosco Chariali, Guwahati - 1.
  6. The DIPR, Dispur, Guwahati.
  7. MD, AMTRON, Bamunimaidan
  8. Office file.
Secretary
State Information Commission, Assam