In an order delivered on May 25, the CIC Saroj Punhani said that the disclosure of the inspection reports of the law colleges in the public domain will benefit the student community at large and will significantly reduce the burden of RTI applications filed in this regard.
“For the said reason, the Commission directs the FAA to place this order before their competent authority to ensure that action is expedited with respect to the upgradation of the BCI website while also incorporating the stipulations of the Commission in the H N Pathak case,” the CIC directed.
It was hearing an appeal against a decision of the First Appellate Authority (FAA) which had refused the plea to provide details of law colleges which were found unfit after BCI inspection or had their affiliation cancelled.
The CIC in its order also took strong objection to the “disdainful conduct” of the FAA during the hearing before it and the frenzied arguments the FAA had with the appellant.
“The FAA burst into frenzied arguments with the Appellant for bringing up allegations of lack of transparency and for insisting on non-compliance of earlier Commission’s directions. The Commission took exception to the disdainful conduct of the FAA and closed the hearing proceedings,” the order noted.
By way of background, a fourth year law student Prasoon Shekhar had filed a Right to Information (RTI) application on March 16, 2020 to inquire as to how frequently the inspection of colleges was done by BCI.
The Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) had furnished point-wise information to the appellant on July, 24 2020 wherein with respect to inspection of law colleges it had stated that,
“All the applications for approval will be considered after inspection only. If the college fulfills all the requirements, the inspection will be carried out. Firstly, the application of the new law colleges will be given priority. The colleges situated near new colleges also will be covered while inspecting new law colleges. The existing law colleges are also inspected very three year, if not happened the extension of approval of affiliation will be issued.”
Source: Barandbench
