Ludhiana, May 18, 2013: The Punjab & Haryana High Court granted stay against the order dated March 12, 2013 of State Information Commission, Punjab vide which Dayanand Medical College & Hospital was declared as Public Authority under the Right to Information Act.
According to a release issued here on Saturday by the hospital, the State Information Commission, Punjab passed its order on two complaints filed by one Rohit Sabharwal of Ludhiana and Dr Sandeep Kumar of Hisar. Both of these complaints were filed on the ground that being a charitable institution Dayanand Medical College & Hospital availing certain exemptions like exemption of House Tax, Income Tax and Stamp Duty etc. The State Information Commission held that these exemptions amount to indirect funding by the state government and due to this reason, Dayanand Medical College & Hospital is a Public Authority.
Dayanand Medical College & Hospital challanged the order of State Information Commission, Punjab before the Punjab & Haryana High Court by filing a writ petition on the ground that the State information Commission, Punjab has no jurisdiction to review its earlier decisions vide which-it was held that Dayanand Medical College & Hospital is not a Public Authority. The writ petition filed by Dayanand Medical College was taken up for hearing by the bench of Justice TS Dhindsa and after hearing the institution, the bench granted stay against the order of State Information Commission, Punjab while issuing the notice of motion to State Information Commission, Punjab as well as Rohit Sabharwal and Dr Sandeep Kumar for 24th July, 2013.