CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has filed a petition in Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking quashing of orders by the Punjab State Information Commission to provide information to three persons.
Institutions managed by SGPC are not financed by the government and therefore, do not fall within the domain of public authorities under the Right to Information Act, the SGPC has held.
The plea states that SGPC is an inter-state body and providing the information would infringe the rights of minority institutes under the Constitution.
Therefore, the information commission had no jurisdiction to pass an order against these institutions.
Justice K. Kanan of Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued notice to the State of Punjab, State Information Commission and three private respondents and issued a stay on the information commission’s order till the next hearing fixed for July 19.
The SGPC, in a petition filed through its assistant secretary, Avtar Singh, had stated that Kulvir Kaur of Muktsar and Gurbhachan Singh of Sangrur had sought information regarding minority institutions under RTI Act from SGPC.
Harbir Singh, a retired principal, had also moved an application seeking information about the post of Directorate of Education, who managed the institutions run by SGPC.
On not being provided the information, the three applicants moved to Punjab State Information Commission, which on December 4, 2009 passed orders directing the SGPC to provide information on the ground that the committee was created by a statute under Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925.
The commission, however, ignored the fact that institutions managed by SGPC were not a creation of the statute, the petition stated.
A review petition filed by SGPC was dismissed by the commission on January 27, 2010, stating that it did not have the jurisdiction to review its own decisions, the petition further stated.
SOURCE-HT
