Now, a student need not pay Rs 750 to seek his/her first page of answer script to check the calculations of marks and other information, instead they just have to pay Rs 2 per paper. The Central Information Commission (CIC) has recently issued an order to Delhi University (DU) which says that the varsity should give the 'first page of answer script' on the request of a student through Right to Information (RTI) act.
After witnessing a case in 2017, where in the varsity put a student's career at stake by making wrong calculations in English subject. Kishor Kumar Roy, a student of journalism from Ram Lal Anand College, appeared for his final year BA examination in 2014, flunked in English as he scored 15. But when the student got his paper revaluated found that the he had scored 30 (12+5+8+5) but the examiner miscalculated and awarded 15.
Following the incident, a former student of Law Faculty, DU and an advocate, Mohit Kumar Gupta sought the first page of answer scripts of all the subjects in which he appeared. But the Chief Public Information Officer (CPIO) and the Examination branch did not provided desired information. It said, "where it was mentioned that as per rule the student can obtain the photocopy of his/her answer scripts between the 61st to 75th day of uploading of the result on the University website (www.du.ac.in), if otherwise admissible/available as per the weeding out rules and within the terms and conditions vide notification dated 1st Nov 2011 and duly approved by E.C vide resolution no. 8(3) dated May 3, 2012"
The varsity then informed the students, "As per the rules, the first page of answer scripts cannot be given to a student through RTI. The student can seek the answer script in the examination branch by paying Rs 750."
However, adamant Gupta filed a petition with CIC, challenging the rules and asked for explanation of the said rule.
The Commission after analysing the oral averments of both parties, written submissions and the documents available on record, opined that that there is a difference between providing a copy of the answer scripts (in full) and a copy of only the first page of the answer script.
"The first page of the answer script of the appellant is eminently disclosable and the CPIO and the deemed PIOs (Examination branch) are directed to note the above observations. This clear difference in what is being sought under the RTI Act and the procedure for supply of complete answer scripts as per the procedure laid down by the University has been overlooked by the CPIO and First Appellate Authority (FAA). The appellant is accordingly entitled to get a copy of the first page of his own answer scripts for which he appeared, said the CIC in a recent order.
Further issuing an order to Delhi University and its Vice-Chancellor, Yogesh Tyagi, the CIC, issued a strict warning to the CPIO and FAA for providing misleading reply to RTI query. "The Commission expresses extreme displeasure with the CPIO for having provided a misleading reply, and in the order of the FAA which failed to address the actual issue in the RTI application. Both the CPIO and the FAA are issued a strict warning to be careful in future and note the above observations," said the commission.
The commission has also asked the Vice Chancellor Tyagi, to take for necessary action to ensure proper implementation of the RTI Act and asked to implement the order 15 days from the date of its issue.
"The decision shall infuse transparency in evaluation practices adopted in the universities and students shall not be required to pay hefty fee charged for procuring the entire answer script, currently fixed against the spirit of RTI Act," said Gupta, the petitioner.