Right to Information on Private School (Private Entitis)

There is confusion in among the Public Information Officers and RTI seekers Whether Private Entities Are Covered Under the RTI Act

Recently a friend of mine wanted to know about the functioning of a Private school under RTI, the common misconception is that has taken root presently is that only entities and organizations which are substantially aided or funded by the Government are covered under the RTI Act. In the Instant case of a private school which had received govt land worth Rupees more than 5 crore free of cost to run a School at Par with International Standard and hence it is substantially aided and comes under RTI.

The following information are available in the site: www.rtiindia.org


The fact is that Private Entities (Schools etc) are also covered under the RTI Act irrespective of whether they are substantially aided or funded by the Government.

1) Private Entities are not covered under sec 2(a) of the Act:

Sec 2(a) "appropriate Government" means in relation to a public authority which is established, constituted, owned, controlled or substantially financed by funds provided directly or indirectly—
(i) by the Central Government or the Union territory administration, the Central Government;
(ii) by the State Government, the State Government;

But Private Entities are covered under section 2(f) of the Act:

Sec. 2(f) "information" means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force;

Also section 8 (j) is relevant here:

Section 8 (j): Provided that the information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person.

To Summarize the argument / point of view:

1) Private Entities are not covered under sec. 2 (a) of the act.
2) Private Entities are covered under sec. 2 (f) of the act.
3) With reference to sec 8 (j) of the act one can reasonably infer and conclude: Provided that the information which cannot be denied to the Public Authority with which the Private Entity is registered shall not be denied to any person.

Hence Private Entities are covered under the RTI Act through the Public Authority with which they are registered e.g. For Co-operative Society : Deputy Registrar of Co-op. Sty's, for Banks - RBI etc, you will need to find out with which Public Authority the Private Entity has registered themselves.

Find out the government dept or government regulator with which the private entity is registered or is being controlled or monitored. For example Charitable Trusts are reporting to Registrar of Societies Act (Charity Commissioner of the area), mobile service providers to TRAI, private banks to RBI, insurance companies to IRDA, public limited companies to SEBI and Registrar of Companies. Coop Societies/banks report to District Registrar of Cooperative Societies. Private Schools are controlled by State Education Department and Colleges by University, Private Universities by University Grant Commissione . Majority of private bodies are controlled by one or the other govt. dept/regulator.

Thus any body can file RTI applications to the government regulators (Public Authorities), who in turn should ask the queries to the concerned Private Entity and get the information and provide the information. But it is found that some Public Authorities simply forward the RTI application to the Private entity and without verifying the truth of the information provide it to the information seeker, which is wrong the Public Authority should personally satisfy the correctness of the information being provided.
This virtually brings every one under the ambit of RTI Act. Courtesy: www.rtiindia.org