Himachal Private education regulator fails to answer 23 RTI pleas

Bhanu P Lohumi

Shimla, September 14

The Himachal Pradesh Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission (HPPEIRC) has failed to comply with the orders of the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), which had directed the HPPEIRC to furnish relevant information regarding 23 RTI applications in four weeks. The CIC had had passed the judgments between June 7 and 13.

Info about PhD faculty

• RTI activist had asked for copy of inspection reports on the basis of which course approval were given to Arni University and Indus International University for the academic session 2022-23.
• Names of faculty members appointed by both the universities for the doctorate courses.

Chairman of the HPPEIRC, Maj General (retd) Atul Kaushik said very extensive information was being sought and they had submitted a review petition in this regard.

The RTI applications were filed by an activist from Chamba, Sachin Thakur. He had sought information regarding the names of private universities and colleges on which penalty was imposed by the commission for violating the norms, penalty imposed and the amount recovered in 2021 and 2022. The activist also demanded information regarding the number, name and case of old petitions pertaining to the private institutes reviewed by the commission and the final action taken in the cases in 2021.

The activist also asked for the report of committee constituted to check qualifications of Vice-Chancellors and names of VCs eligible for the posts in the 17 private universities of the state.

He also urged the commission to provide the WhatsApp number and official social media page where the students can report their grievances to the commission, number of complaints received and details of action taken against the institutes, copy of record of salary awarded to the staff of the private universities.

In one of the applications, he had mentioned that as per a Supreme Court order, minimum 90 teaching days are required in a semester. Thakur then said that the last date of admission of undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) courses till 2019 was August 15 and 31, respectively, and requested for the information regarding last date of admission of UG and PG courses in the private institutes for the academic session 2020-21 and 2021-22.

The CIC Narender Chauhan had directed the HPPEIRC to provide the information and submit a compliance report. In some cases the CIC had maintained that the information sought is a part of public disclosure or suo moto disclosure.

Kaushik said, “Some information is available on the website of the commission.”