CHENNAI: An eight-year struggle to obtain information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act from his own alma mater, a postgraduate alumnus of the University of Madras, finally ended last month when he received a cheque of Rs 10,000 as compensation, as directed by the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission.
P Raj Kapil, a postgraduate in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Madras and currently employed at OP Jindal Global University, had applied in 2018 for the post of project coordinator advertised by the university.
After attending an interview conducted by the Department of Criminology, Raj Kapil found that the results were never announced. Instead, the university issued a fresh notification for the same post without declaring the outcome of the earlier recruitment process.
The RTI applicant, an alumnus of MU, had applied for a post in the university and sought to know the status of his application and the recruitment process, after the university initiated a fresh process for the same post
He filed an RTI application seeking details on whether the interview results, including the marks secured by candidates and the measures adopted to ensure transparency in the recruitment process, would be published or not.
When the information was not furnished, Raj Kapil approached the State Information Commission through a second appeal. The university again failed to provide satisfactory responses, prompting him to file a non-compliance petition.
During hearings in 2022, the university's Public Information Officer informed the commission that the project coordinator posts were proposed under a UNICEF-funded initiative and that the required financial allocation had not been sanctioned. The commission observed that the university had failed to explain to candidates why they were not selected, particularly when the posts themselves had not materialised.
The commission held that applicants had a fundamental right to such information and criticised the university for denying proper responses to one of its own graduates. It further noted that the institution's conduct reflected administrative negligence and a lack of transparency.
Consequently, the commission ordered the university to pay Raj Kapil Rs 10,000 as compensation. However, the university failed to comply immediately and did not implement the commission's directives.
When the matter came up for hearing again in January this year, the commission recorded that the Registrar had declined to comply with its order. Granting a final opportunity, it directed the university to disburse the compensation within 10 days.
Following the commission's intervention, Raj Kapil finally received a compensation cheque for Rs 10,000 from the university registrar on May 20, 2026.
Speaking to DT Next, Raj Kapil said the case demonstrated how public authorities often fail to comply with orders issued by information commissions. He also argued that the RTI Act had gradually lost much of its effectiveness and called for stronger enforcement mechanisms to uphold transparency and public accountability.