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Mumbai: A public trust registered under the Maharashtra Public Trust Act has an obligation to provide information under the RTI Act when it is running an institution receiving grants from the state government, the Nagpur full bench of the Bombay High Court clarified.
In the detailed order, the full bench said that if information has been sought regarding a public trust, then it is not mandatory to provide it. Even if the Trust is not owned or funded by any institution and has not taken land at a concessional rate from the government, the information is not binding. If the information sought relates to an educational or trust-run institution and if the government is providing financial assistance, the Information Commissioner may direct the institution to provide the information.
If the information received about the Trust falls under Section 8(J) of the Right to Information Act, then it is not binding on the Charity Commissioner to provide the information received about the Trust. If the information sought does not fall within the excluded category of Section VIII of the Act, the Authority may provide such information.
Due to differing views in various judgments of the Bombay High Court, the question arose whether a trust or society running an educational institution receiving government grants falls within the definition of a public authority under the Information Act.
The Court further held that an educational institution which receives only salary and non-salary grants if it is run by a trust exists because of the State's policy of subsidizing educational institutions and cannot be called a trust. Because it gets grants from the government.