RTI effect: Examinee shown answer scripts

The Telegraph :
Sunday : February 04, 2007
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070205/asp/jamshedpur/story_7350648.asp

The Board of Secondary Education (BSE) has for the first time provided photocopies of answer scripts of the high school certificate examination to an examinee.

Toshalina of Kendrapara has been given photocopied answer scripts of all nine subjects following a directive from the state information commission. The girl, who wrote the examination in 2002, had moved the panel invoking the Right to Information Act after the BSE turned down her plea.

The board, meanwhile has taken a policy decision on the matter. “We have decided in principle to provide photocopies of answer scripts to examinees on request,” BSE secretary Minaketan Pani told The Telegraph. Examinees can get answer scripts for a period of eight months on payment of a nominal fee.

Student allowed to see re-check process

Times of India : Ahemdabd
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Source: http://indiarti.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html

For the first time in Gujarat, a student from Patan, Kuntilal Parmar, who had taken his Primary Teacher College (PTC) exams, has been granted permission to remain present while his answer sheets are being re-checked. Parmar had sought permission under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to remain present during the re-checking of his answer papers.

He was allowed to do so by state information commissioner (SIC) RN Das on Friday. Relevant oral orders were passed by SIC to GEB. The GEB holds certificate and diploma exams in subjects such as home science, PTC, physical education and a number of vocational courses.

However, to inject transparency in the entire process Das ordered that Parmar be allowed to be present while his answer sheets were being rechecked. The decision comes with a rider: SIC's orders were limited to re-checking, which involves only re-totalling of marks. The other aspect of exam rescrutiny - which is re-assessment of all answers provided by the examinee - has not been allowed.

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.