Can legal adviser answer behalf of public Authority ?

**Darvin** · 01-15-2008, 09:14 PM

I filled the RTI seeking the the info abt the fees collection in Govt aided school. I got the reply from the legal adviser of the institution.
Wanted to get few clarifications for further proceedingsâ€¦

Can a Legal Advisor reply to the RTI on behalf of a particular Public Authority {organization/ Institution}.
In the letter the Legal Advisor has specifically quoted that the application is wrongly addressed as well this institution is not covered under the RTI actâ€¦.
In the reply from the PA,{sent by the Legal Advisor on behalf of the Institution} had used Demeaning/Dehumanizing and Demotivating language â€“ as per my assumption I clearly see that there is an strategy used for me to withdraw this application from further proceedingsâ€¦

- How do I take up this unlawful words used in the RTI by the Legal Advisor as well how do I Pass on the information that RTI is a common manâ€™s law to the Advocate?
- What is the clause for me to fill against this para that did hit my Humaniness?
Hence forth â€“ How should I proceed with this application?

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**karira** · 01-15-2008, 10:44 PM

Sponsorer

Darvin,

Very interesting case !

1. Legal Adviser cannot sign a reply to a RTI Application.
It has to be invariably be signed by the PIO.
Please read this complete thread:
Is Signature of PIO/CPIO a must on the reply...
This can be one of the grounds for first appeal.

2. I cannot understand what is meant by application is wrongly addressed.
Did you application say at the top: "Application under RTI Act 2005" ?
Did your application indicate anywhere that it was under RTI Act ?
If any of the above is true/correct, then it should have gone to the PIO.

3. However, in your case, the Public Authority (PA) has denied that they are a PA, therefore question of having a PIO does not arise.

4. You have to argue in your First Appeal that the school is a PA.
There is a various decisions of the CIC about if a Govt. aided school is a PA or not.
Please see:
http://cic.gov.in/CIC-Orders/Decision_28052007_17.pdf
http://cic.gov.in/CIC-Orders/Decision_03122007_04.pdf
http://cic.gov.in/CIC-Orders/Decision_24092007_05.pdf

5. The "language" part is serious.
Make this one of the reasons for your appeal.
At the end of the appeal "pray" or "make a plea" that the concerned PIO should be strictly warned to use proper language in official replies, etc. etc. etc. AND that disciuplinary action be taken as per prevalent rules and regulations and that you should be informed of the action taken.

6. Proceed with First Appeal.

**jps50** · 01-16-2008, 12:02 AM

u will have to prove that school is a Public Authority by proving how much aid they are getting. I suggest that instead of approaching the school, the education dept of the govt should also be asked the required details of the school in question. This is an additional way out.

**zram** · 01-16-2008, 12:37 AM

Hi folks,
I have a question here, might well end up looking stupid but neverthless i shall raise it. Who holds the authority to decide if the contribution of the Govt is substantial enough to be deemed as a "Public Authority" and is there a well established forum of the Govt where one can easily access this information rather than putting an RTI everytime you want to figure out if one is really a PA... Also If one such forum doesnt exist, can we put an RTI claim from CIC and ask them "To establish an Authority to publish a list of all Public Authority.

Sriram
Runing my life as a S/W engineer

**Dr. Pathak** · 01-16-2008, 11:00 AM

@Sriram,
You might like to read the glossary term here:
RTI India - Glossary - Substantially Financed

And unfortunately there is no established proactive disclosure in many Ministries and Government Offices. It is for this we started campaign Proactive Disclosure campaign under Section 4 of RTI Act

You might like to download the sample application and start using it to get Government organs to participate more.