4 Pa. Commw. 392 | Pa. Commw. Ct. | 1972
Opinion by
We have before us an amended complaint in trespass filed by plaintiffs alleging that the refusal of the Board of Trustees to furnish detailed financial information to the plaintiffs violated the plaintiffs’ rights under the Pennsylvania Right To Know Law
Plaintiffs specifically seek a judgment requiring defendants to make public certain detailed financial information regarding the operation of the University, the University’s itemized budget, and the minutes of the meetings of the Board of Trustees and subcommittees thereof. The bases of plaintiffs’ complaint are that Temple University is a state agency and must divulge its public records under the Pennsylvania Right To Know Act and further that there is a common law right
Defendants filed preliminary objections to the amended complaint alleging, inter alia, lack of subject matter jurisdiction. We hold that the preliminary objections must be sustained.
Jurisdiction over actions brought to enforce rights granted under the Right To Know Act is given this Court by Section 508(a) (90) of the Appellate Court Jurisdiction Act of July 31, 1970, P. L. , 17 P.S. §211.508(a) (90). Temple University, however, cannot be included in that group of agencies of the Commonwealth whose public records are to be available for examination.
Temple University was statutorily established as an “instrumentality of the Commonwealth” by the Temple University-Commonwealth Act, Act of November 30, 1965, P. L. 843, 24 P.S. §§2510(1-12). The question before us is whether the Legislature by so naming Temple as an “instrumentality of the Commonwealth” has subjected that institution to the Right To Know Act and has made Temple’s officials “officers of the Commonwealth.”
The Right To Know Act defines “Agency” for the purposes of that Act as “Any department, board or commission of the executive branch of the Commonwealth, any political subdivision of the Commonwealth, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, or any State or municipal authority or similar organization created by or pursuant to a statute which declares in substance that such organization performs or has for its purpose the performance of an essential governmental function,.” (emphasis added).
Despite the Legislative pronouncement that Temple shall be an “instrumentality of the Commonwealth” we hold that Temple’s governing and operating proce
The Act has changed Temple’s reliance upon governmental services. By declaring Temple a “state-related institution,”
Plaintiffs also bring this action against individual members of the Board of Trustees and University administration in their capacity as “officers of the Commonwealth.” While these defendants may be officers of the “Commonwealth” to the extent that they must perform the mandates of the Temple University-Commonwealth Act, for the reasons set forth above, they are not under a duty to disclose the requested University records. Since the complaints do not allege any failure by the individual defendants to perform any statutorily mandated duty, they must fall.
Finally, plaintiffs claim a right to inspect the University’s records under the Common Law. As they say in their brief: “Plaintiffs claim that, regardless of whether or not the University is held to be an ‘agency’ within the ambit of the Right To Know Law, it is nevertheless a government instrumentality whose public records come within the scope of a well developed Common Law which entitles citizens to inspect public records.”
In summary, we hold as follows: (1) Temple University is not an “agency” under the Right To Know Act, and therefore not subject to the disclosure provisions contained therein; (2) the individual defendants are only “officers of the Commonwealth” to the extent that they perform statutory duties created by sections seven through ten of the Temple University-Commonwealth Act; (3) plaintiffs have not alleged a cause of action against the individual defendants acting in their official capacity; (4) with the exception of its public duties defined in sections seven through ten of the Temple University-Commonwealth Act, Temple is not a “governmental instrumentality” subject to Common Law Right To Know actions; and (5) plaintiffs have not alleged a failure to disclose the information relating to the public operations of the University as specifically set forth in sections eight and ten of the Temple University-Commonwealth Act. Accordingly, we issue the following:
Order
And Now, this 13th day of January A.D., 1972, the Preliminary Objections of the Board of Trustees of
Act of June 21, 1957, P. L. 390, §1-4, 65 P.S. §66.
The fact that the Act refers to Temple as a “state-related institution” does not bolster plaintiffs’ argument Webster’s Third International Dictionary (1966) defines related as “connected by reason of an established or discoverable relation.” Under this definition, any institution that is minimally connected with the state could be properly termed “state-related” without including that institution within the ambit of the Right-To-Know Act.