THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Information Commission has imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on a former headmistress of an aided school in Kannur for not providing information sought through a Right to Information (RTI) query filed in 2017.
The fine was imposed by Information Commissioner K L Vivekanandan on K Molly of St Theresa’s School in Kannur based on an appeal petition by one Biju Santhosh. Biju had approached the school for admission in Class 1 for his daughter. The school authorities denied admission and allegedly misbehaved with him.
Suspecting a lack of transparency in the admission process, Biju filed the RTI query seeking details about the number of students admitted to Class 1 in the school. Since he did not receive a response after one month, he submitted an appeal to the District Education Officer (DEO), Kannur.
Citing a Supreme Court order, the DEO gave the RTI response that the information cannot be provided. It was based on the second appeal to the Commission that action was taken against Molly. The Commission observed that admission to seats other than management quota should be carried out in a transparent manner.