appellant who is the father of the candidate is entitled for the copies of the answer sheets of his
son, which shall be supplied to him within 15 days from the date of receipt of this order, free of
cost. The Commission also holds that the undertakings prescribed by the CBSE will be serious
obstructions to the access to information. The Public Authority can only deny the information
under Sections 8/9 of the RTI Act. Therefore, the Commission directs the then CPIO, Mr. Manish
Agrawal and the present CPIO to show cause why penaltyshould not be imposed for not
furnishing the information within the prescribed period. Their explanation should reach the
Commission within 21 days from the date of receipt of this order.
The Commission further directs the CBSE to pay a compensation of Rs.25,000/ to the
appellant within 15 days from the date of receipt of this order for the hardship he was made to face
and undergo harassment in obtaining the information from the Public Authority.
CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Prof. M. Sridhar Acharyulu (Madabhushi Sridhar)
Information Commissioner
CIC/RM/A/2014/0000014SA
Vijay Kumar Mishra, Samastipur Vs. Central Board of Secondary Education, Patna
Decision: 02-12-2015
The appellant is not present for video conference at NIC Studio, Samastipur. The Public
Authority represented by Mr. Aravind, CPIO, is present for video conference at NIC, Patna.
FACTS:
2. The appellant is seeking copies of the answer sheets for the subjects Maths and Science of
12th Class examination appeared in 2013 and the related matters. Claiming nonfurnishing of
information by the respondent authority, the appellant approached the Commission in second
appeal after exhausting the first appeal with the respondent authority.
The appellant is not present for video conference at Samastipur. The Public Authority made
their submissions through video conference at Patna. The respondent officer submitted that the
request for the supply of evaluated answer sheets was made, not by the candidate, who
appeared in the examination, but by his father, i.e. the appellant, as the rules framed by the CBSE
vide its Notification dated 1762013 mandates the candidate to make application. Moreover, the
last date for the receipt of requests through online for the supply of evaluated answer sheets was
372013, and the RTI request, made by the candidate’s father/appellant was 1282013.
Accordingly, the CPIO by his letter dated 692013 intimated to the appellant within the prescribed
period. On his first appeal, the FAA had stated in his order, that they can supply the copies of the
answer sheets under the definition “Information” of the RTI Act, only to the candidates/examinees,
after verifying their signature on the RTI application, which should tally with the signature signed
by the candidate on the admit card. But in this case, this question does not arise, as it is the
father of the candidate whose signature is appearing on the RTI application. Hence the FAA had
not allowed the appeal of the appellant, as he is not the candidate in this examination. The CPIO
has also quoted some of the CBSE rules enshrined in the relevant notification dated 1762013:
1) Requests/applications for supply of answer sheets should be made only through online
within 10 days from the date of declaration of the result.
2) After downloading the hardcopy of the printout of the request/confirmation page, from the
website, the candidate should get the same reached to the CBSE office, before the
specified date, along with the fee and other prescribed enclosures.
3) Among the documents to be enclosed along with the application, there is an undertaking
from the candidate, written in his own handwriting and under his own signature and not by
anyone else on his behalf. The signature should correspond to that present on the Admit
Card of the candidate. The candidate cannot question the evaluation done by the
examiner. The candidate can only point out the errors in the totaling of marks, or the
answers which were not evaluated by the examiner. These errors should be
communicated by the candidate in writing to the CBSE within 10 days from the date of
receipt of the evaluated answer sheets. There is no provision in the CBSE Rules, for the
revaluation of the answer sheets again.
4) The copies of the answer sheets shall be provided to the candidates by blocking the
information relating to the identity of the Examiner. The candidate should also undertake
that the copies of his answer sheets shall not be given to any institution or school for
display, commercial purpose or to print media .
In view of the above facts, the CPIO had submitted that the RTI application of the appellant, had
been dealt with as per the provisions of the RTI Act and the CBSE rules and that was why the FAA
did not allow the first appeal of the appellant.
DECISION:
4. The Commission having heard the submissions and perused the record, considers that the
appellant who is the father of the candidate is entitled for the copies of the answer sheets of his
son, which shall be supplied to him within 15 days from the date of receipt of this order, free of
cost. The Commission also holds that the undertakings prescribed by the CBSE will be serious
obstructions to the access to information. The Public Authority can only deny the information
under Sections 8/9 of the RTI Act. Therefore, the Commission directs the then CPIO, Mr. Manish
Agrawal and the present CPIO to show cause why penaltyshould not be imposed for not
furnishing the information within the prescribed period. Their explanation should reach the
Commission within 21 days from the date of receipt of this order.
The Commission further directs the CBSE to pay a compensation of Rs.25,000/ to the
appellant within 15 days from the date of receipt of this order for the hardship he was made to face
and undergo harassment in obtaining the information from the Public Authority.
5. The Commission orders accordingly.
(M. Sridhar Acharyulu)
Information Commissioner
No comments:
Post a Comment