The petitioners in these writ petitions are principals of private aided colleges in the State. The issue involved in all these writ petitions is common and therefore these writ petitions are disposed of by this common judgment.

2. The issue involved is as to whether aided private colleges would come within the purview of the Right to Information Act, 2005 ("the Act" for short).

3. The contention raised by the petitioners is that the aided private colleges are not authorities coming within the purview of the definition of "public authority" under section 2(h) of the Act. They would submit that going by the scheme of the Act, the object behind the Act is to uphold the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression. According to them, since a fundamental right can be enforced only against the Government, governmental agencies or instrumentalities of the Government, the Act can be enforced only against such authorities. In short, they would contend that the term, "public authority" would take in only Government and those instrumentalities of State which would come within the definition of "State" under Article 12 of the Constitution of India.

4. The petitioners would fu