Give answer copy to students: Information Commission, Bihar

The Economic Times
Patna : 21 Sep, 2008
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Education/
Give_answer_copy_to_students_Information_Commission/articleshow/3508936.cms

Bihar's transparency watchdog has directed universities to provide photocopies of the examined papers to examinees, if they so desired.

The State Information Commission recently passed an order on a petition filed by a student of B Com first year of L N Mithila University (LNMU), Murari Kumar Jha, who wanted to inspect his answer copy.

The university, taking refuge under Section 8 (1) (e) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, had rejected the student's plea on the ground of fiduciary relationship between the authority conducting the examination and the examiner.

Fiduciary relationship refers to the special relationship of trust between persons in the eye of law such as between a doctor and a patient or a lawyer and a client.

Rejecting the university's plea, Information Commissioner P N Narayan said "This Commission does not find any merit for allowing a claim of fiduciary relationship under Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act which would not come in the way of allowing the request of Murari Kumar Jha to inspect the examination copy.

"Allowing of a fiduciary relationship between the University or the Commission and its examiner as the reason for not allowing the student or the candidate to scrutinise answer books puts them in a position in which they may suffer wrong without remedy," the Commission observed.

The Registrars-cum-Principal Information Officers of universities have been asked to make available photocopies of answer sheets within a month of receipt of any such application by examinees, Commission Secretary S K Mishra said.

The Commission's order said that RTI Act is a law intended to promote transparency in such a way that the interersts of, among others, students of the university and the candidate before a Public Service Commission were protected.

The transparency watchdog noted that the university and the Commission had a much more stronger fiduciary obligations toward students or candidates instead of the examiners.

While disposing of a similar case filed by an examinee Ashutosh Chand of Magadh University, the Commission, in a recent order, made it clear that the university could not arbitrarily fix fee for providing answer scripts.

In his complaint, Chand had said that the university authorities had asked him to deposit Rs 1500 for securing a photocopy of his answer script.

"The Commission is of the view that the power to determine the quantum of fee for getting photocopies of the answer sheets vests in the state government, which would decide the fee rationally," Mishra said, adding the panel had suggested to the university to submit a proposal to the government regarding the charges it intended to impose for approval.

RTI to let students view answer sheets

The Indian Express
Ahmedabad : May 11, 2008
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=235940

THE Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel, an initiative of Janpath, will set up guidance centres in different parts of Gujarat on Saturday to help students studying in Class XII view their answer sheets under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The results of Class XII (Science) will be declared on Saturday. Guidance centres will be started in Ahmedabad, Naroda, Dholka, Surat, Vadodara, Jamnagar, Bharuch, Surendranagar and Mehasana. Students can file RTI applications to get a copy of their answer sheets in 48 hours with the help of these guidance centres.

The guidance centres will function for three days. Apart from guidance centres, a citizens’ orientation camp will also be organised in Ahmedabad. Talking to the media about these guidance centres, Harinesh Pandya of Janpath said, “A lot of procedure needs to be followed to get one’s answer sheet but if a student applies under Section 7 (1) of the RTI Act which says that the information needs to be provided within 48 hours if it concerns the life and liberty of the person, then the burden of the proof is on the PIO if he chooses to reject the application.”

The Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel also revealed its data for the whole year which included the number and the kind of calls made on its helpline. While 12, 427 calls were made last year on the helpline, a majority of calls were made by people seeking information from the State Revenue Department. Fourteen percent calls on the helpline was made by government functionaries and 86 percent calls were made by the citizens.

BPSC asked to give break-up of marks on RTI application

BPSC asked to give break-up of marks
The Hindu, Friday, Oct 31, 2008
http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/31/stories/2008103154860800.htm

Patna: In an order which could be handy for the students to assess themselves, the Patna High Court has upheld the order of the State Information Commission (SIC) directing the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) to disclose question-wise break-up of marks obtained by them.

A single bench of Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi has dismissed the petition filed by BPSC challenging the order of SIC directing it to provide the detailed marks to the examinees.

Dismissing the petition, Justice Tripathi on Thursday said that information and knowledge are critical for realising human aspiration. Only a knowledgeable society can assert its fundamental rights and demand quality life.

The court said that the Right to Information Act was meant to facilitate transparency in every sphere of life. The Act has been put into effect with the objective of open and a participative government which shall fulfil the needs of the people as envisaged under the Constitution of India, Justice Tripathi observed in the recent judgement.

The court did not find any fault in SIC's direction to the BPSC to provide question-wise marks to the examinees of 46th Combined Competitive Examination. The court has some difficulty in accepting the stand of the petitioner (BPSC) that they are not duty bound to furnish the information demanded by respondent no. 3 (the examinee), he stated.

The bench observed that the State Information Commission has not transgressed its power in directing the petitioner (BPSC) to furnishthe information to the examinee. –PTI

Pvt medical, engg colleges under purview of RTI Act

By Vaibhav Ganjapure & Ranjit Deshmukh,
Nagpur - TNN 27 Sep 2008,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Nagpur/Pvt_medical_engg_colleges_under_purview_of_RTI_Act/articleshow/3533077.cms

Private medical and engineering non-aided colleges can no longer choose to hide information sought under the Right to Information Act, 2005.

In a landmark order, information commissioner for Nagpur and Amravati Vilas Patil has made it compulsory for all private engineering and medical colleges to reveal information under RTI to every applicant. These colleges had earlier refused to provide information on the pretext that they were beyond the purview of the Act.

The order was delivered in response to an appeal filed by Rajkumar Bhoyar against first appellate officer, principal of Yashwantrao Chavan College of engineering (YCCE), Wanadongri and YCCE public
information officer.

Earlier, private engineering and medical institutions refused to divulge information under RTI to applicants as they "were not governed by the government nor they received any government grant and hence the RTI was not applicable to them, Patil told TOI and said he took help of two Supreme Court judgments for passing the order.

"As per verdict of apex court, all private engineering and medical institutions were governed by the University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the Medical Council of India (MCI)," Patil said.

Plagiarism Peril Prevails

The peril of plagiarism prevails and the most shocking fact is that it is prevalent in the class considered to be 'intellectual' and 'knowledgeable' by the society. Plagiarism is the act of passing someone else's work (generally intellectual work like research material, data, lifting from book, work of art or music etc.) as one's own and original creation without acknowledging the original author or inventor. It is an intellectual theft having moral, social and financial implications. On a legal level it also a violation of intellectual property rights of the original inventor or author. Although cases of such copying and theft have been reported in industry (where such theft could have large financial implications), large part of this discreditable works are registered in the name of the academic and research fraternity. In these professions it is largely an issue involving moral turpitude committed for seeking recognition amongst fellow workers. Some are motivated to do it for capturing chances of upliftments in career. Various forms and facets of plagiarism are reported by people from the academic community spanning different parts of the world. From the developed world to the third world countries to the socialist China (the emerging superpower), all have witnessed there share of this evil. Reports of such acts have been repeatedly springing up in media and when such issues are made public there is a huge outcry against the persons named in it. But, the fact remains that there is a need for a strengthened mechanism to handle cases of plagiarism on permanent basis. While such systems and agencies exist in USA, in India, we are devoid of any such institutional mechanism. With all major international findings indicating a dominant position of our country in the new emerging world economic order such system is much needed to preserve the credit and integrity of our academic and research institutions. (Visuals courtesy www.chemistry.berea.edu and www.sociology.camden.rutgers.edu revealed through Google Image Search)