A matter was filed before the Central Information Commission pertaining to a Right to Information application dated 11-03-2025 seeking information from the Delhi University regarding the application and acceptance of foreigners in the University in the past five years as well as their Overseas Citizenship of India card (OCI card) status and the number of OCI holders who opted to apply as Indian citizens.
A reply was furnished to the appellant on 09-04-2025 wherein it was stated that the information was endorsed to the Dean (Foreign Students Registry) of the University, who was the deemed Public Information Officer under Sections 5(4) and 5(5) of the Act. It was mentioned that relevant input was yet to be received and that the appellant may contact the Dean for the same. Aggrieved, the appellant filed a first appeal on 22-04-2025 and by an order, the appellate authority directed the Dean to comply with the previous order within two weeks. Aggrieved by the non-compliance, the appellant filed the present appeal.
The CPIO stated that after notice from the Commission and in compliance of the First Appellate Authority’s order, an updated point-wise reply was provided to the appellant. It was also mentioned that the data regarding foreign students who took admission through OCI cards could not be made to the appellant as the Delhi University did not maintain such data separately.
The Information Commissioner Ms. Sudha Rani Relangi observed that the appellant’s contention in the present appeal was regarding the non-receipt of statistics of foreign students who were admitted through OCI cards, whereas the CPIO explained that foreign applicants were admitted only based on foreign passports, which is why no separate data was maintained for the OCI holders.
The Commission did not find any infirmity in the respondent’s submission and found the CPIO’s reply to be within the confines of the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005. It was stated that the CPIO could only provide information that was held in the office record and was not obligated to create information under the RTI Act. However, the Commission stated that the non-maintenance of record regarding foreign students admitted through OCI cards was a matter of concern for all foreign students and it was stated that action was required by the Delhi University in larger interest to ensure transparency in the working system.
The Commission directed the respondent public authority to give effect to the provisions of Section 4 of the RTI Act on the subject issue by facilitating the required information regarding number of foreign students getting admission through OCI cards to be kept in public domain as a step towards proactive disclosure under the RTI Act, through its website. It was stated that this would also relieve the public authority of the burden of RTI applications on this issue.
A copy of this order was directed to be placed before the Vice Chancellor, Delhi University to consider the recommendations for ensuring that the public have minimum resort to the use of the RTI Act. The Commission directed a compliance report to be filed before the Commission through CPIO within 6 weeks.
