Central Information Commission directs IIT-M to disclose utilisation of grant-in-aid funds
The Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) to provide a detailed, project-wise breakdown of the utilisation of grant-in-aid funds
The Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) to provide a detailed, project-wise breakdown of the utilisation of grant-in-aid funds for the financial year 2023-24 sought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. The direction came on a petition filed by Ananya Dubey, who sought details of the grant-in-aid received by the institute over the previous three financial years, along with project-wise utilisation of the funds, copies of utilisation certificates, and the names of collaborations that IIT-M entered into. The Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) initially declined the request, arguing that the information sought for three years was voluminous and retrieving and compiling it would disproportionately divert the institute’s resources.
The applicant was asked to narrow the scope of her request by specifying the period and information required. Following this, Ms. Dubey restricted her request to the fiscal 2023-24. The CPIO informed her that IIT-M had received ₹537 crore towards research projects and ₹241 crore for industry research projects during the period. The reply stated that the funds had been utilised in accordance with the sanction orders or agreements of the sponsoring agencies. However, the CPIO said copies of utilisation certificates could not be disclosed without the concurrence of the respective sponsoring agencies, while information relating to collaborations was not readily available.
Contending that the institute had failed to furnish the project-wise utilisation details of the grant-in-aid, Ms. Dubey approached the CIC. During the hearing, the CPIO submitted that IIT-M had handled more than 1,000 projects during the relevant period, some of which were yet to attain finality, and any unutilised funds, wherever applicable, would have to be returned to the government. He also argued that project-wise fund utilisation details and related agreements contained third-party personal information which was exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1)(j) of the Act. Information Commissioner Sudha Rani Relangi noted that the request for information on the utilisation of grant-in-aid funds had not been addressed adequately.
Recording the CPIO’s willingness to revisit the matter, she directed the officer to issue a revised, categorical reply to the petitioner, addressing in particular her request for the utilisation details of the grant-in-aid funds for 2023-24.
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