MDMK’s State Youth Wing secretary V. Eswaran alleged that the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Madras did not furnish the number of students from government school students enrolled in the institute in response to his RTI application.
He said on Tuesday that he filed an online RTI application on October 31 asking for the details of the number of government school students from the State who joined IIT-Madras in the past five years. The reply from the Office of Public Information of IIT-Madras dated November 6, which Mr. Eswaran shared with The Hindu, said that the “information sought is not a part of the record of a public authority in terms of section 2(f) and 2(j) of RTI Act, 2005.”
The RTI Act does not “cast an obligation upon the public authority, to collect or collate such non-available information and then furnish it to an applicant,” the reply further said.
“A large section of the students still do not get an opportunity to study [at IIT-Madras],”Mr. Eswaran alleged. He said that he is awaiting permission from the institute to allow him to visit the campus in Chennai.
