AES, LDBSVM fall under RTI ambit: HC

Settling a dispute that ran for 14 years, Gujarat High Court has ruled that Ahmedabad Education Society which runs educational institutes and Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Bharatiya Sanskriti Vidya Mandir (LDBSVM) which runs LD Institute of Indology come under ambit of RTI. This, because they got substantial grant from the state government.

A bench of Justice BD Karia came to the conclusion based upon the provisions of Right To Information Act, 2005 and various verdicts issued by the Supreme Court upon the similar subject.

"Both petitioners running institutions financed by the State Government would fall within the ambit of section 2(h) of the Act. It would be a futile exercise to remand matters back to respondent no 1 (Gujarat State Information Commission), as the matter is very old and in view of the facts on record, it would not be possible to take a different view than what is held by the commission," the bench said. AES and LDBSVM had filed the different petitions before HC, following the ruling of the Gujarat State Information Commission (GSIC) holding that the institutions fall under the ambit of RTI Act as they receive substantial grant from state government.