The College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Mohuda does not seem to respect the RTI Act and rather has made a mockery of the law, alleged senior advocate and Ganjam Bar Association vice-president Siva Prasad Mishra here.
CPS which frequently remains in public debate reportedly for its unfair administrative and fiscal practices, mismanagement, and repeated unrest among its stakeholders, in a recent case once again refused to come under the ambience of the RTI Act. Applicant Panchanan Panda wanted to know from the Principal of CPS, the name and address of persons nominated by the AICTE, the State Government, the BPUT and the Berhampur University to the governing body of the college from January 1, 2013 and sought to have copies of orders of such nominations, but it was not entertained.
Challenging the denial to comply with under the RTI Act by the Chairman and Principal of CPS, applicant Panda on May 23, 2013 and May 12, 2014 appealed to the first appellate authority of the Health and Family Welfare Department seeking a directive to the Principal, CPS to provide the information.
In spite of directives to the college authorities to provide the necessary information as sought by the applicant, the CPS authority remained adamant to oblige. Surprisingly, they refused outright to follow the instruction on the pretext that the college is a private body not availing land and fund from the Government for construction of its building and hence, the rule is not binding on it.
However, sources said that the college was initially run in a renovated municipality ME school building at Gandhinagar, Brahmapur for more than six years on rent-free basis and had availed Government grant of Rs 4 lakh from the State Cooperative and Urban Development Department in 1979. Besides, the college has reportedly received funds from the UGC for its infrastructural development.
According to information available, the college management has not invested a single pie for the infrastructure development of the college. On the contrary, the infrastructure was built from huge sums of money collected towards tuition fees from students. Even the staff members of the college get their salary from such source of income. Hence, for all practical purposes, the college is to be treated as a public property and not a private porperty as claimed by the Chairman and Principal, said advocate Mishra. The Health and FW Dept/DMET is the competent authority to issue directives to the college for necessary compliance on the basis of queries received from citizens under RTI Act.
It raises doubts on the regulating power of the State on the college since it has been ignoring the directives quite often, said Mishra. When the CPS dared not to respond to the directives of the Government and FAA, now the public is reportedly watching the action to be initiated by the Health and Family Welfare department.