Live Law: New Delhi: Saturday,
July 23, 2016.
The Central
Information Commission has categorically held that academic/educational
qualifications at land mark stages like 10th class, Intermediate, Graduation,
Post-Graduation or Ph.D. and clearing of every annual examination, which
promotes the student into next year, arepublic documents and every member of
public shall have access to it.
The
Information Commissioner Prof. M. Sridhar Acharyulu has held that, if the
information being sought is about passing/failure/clearance of examinations or
possession of the Degrees/ certificates after passing the examinations, such
details need to be provided under RTI Act. But if the information sought is
about failures, such as memorandum of marks or details of about number of
appearances, the PIO can straight away reject the same, unless the applicant
pleads and establishes larger public interest or comparative public interest.
This
observation by the Commission is on an appeal by one Subhash Chandra Tyagi
whose application seeking information relating to candidate Mr. Kamal Tyagi was
rejected by CBSE stating that that the information pertains to third party and
is personal information of third party, without whose consent it could be
given.
DEGREES ARE
NOT PRIVATE OR THIRD PARTY INFORMATION
The
Commission observed: “Once a student passes an examination and qualifies to
secure a degree, the degree and passing details cannot be treated as private or
third party information.Passing an examination is a qualification and awarding
the degree such as 10thClass, 12thClass or Intermediate, graduation or
post-graduation, is a public document generated by a public institution.The
academic institutions awarding such degrees underastatutoryauthorityaredischargingtheirstatutorydutiessuchasregisteringthe
qualification details and degree related information. “
‘IN LARGER
PUBLIC INTEREST’
The
Commission also observed: “When there is an apprehension or doubt about
validity or existence of a qualification, it is necessary to verify genuineness
of the same.If verification proves that it is a genuine degree, it vindicates
the qualification of the candidate.If it is proved to be a wrong degree, it
will serve a larger public interest.Hence the degree or
academic-qualification-related-information need to be accessible to the
citizen.”
‘To prevent
cheating, the transparency is the proper method’
The
Commission held: “academic/educational qualifications at land mark stages like
10th class, Intermediate, Graduation, Post-Graduation or Ph.D. and clearing of
every annual examination, which promotes the student into next year, are the
public documents.If a student is suspected to have manipulated his promotion
from one to next year, another has every right to seek its verification and it
is the duty of the public academic body to clear the apprehension and take
necessary action, if apprehension is proved correct.If educational details are
protected as personal information, it leaves lot of scope for manipulation,
corruption and misrepresentation. It is in larger public interest, we need to
avoid it. To prevent cheating, the transparency is the proper method. “
EVERY MEMBER
OF PUBLIC SHALL HAVE RIGHT TO KNOW GENUINENESS OF DEGREE
The
commission further observed: “How can a graduate consider his degree as private
and personal information, and why it should be considered as someone’s personal
data. There is no basis for such understanding. If BA degree is a requirement
for studying MA, the student who wants to study MA has to prove that he
graduated. If he does not have that qualifying degree and manipulates to secure
admission MA, every genuine graduate has a right to doubt the admission and to
demand the disclosure of graduation details.For higher education or employment,
he has to reveal his details of education details. If a candidate wants to
treat the patients as doctor he has to prove medical graduation. Every person
has a right to know genuineness of his degree or education. Hence, all the
qualifying examinations and degrees are public information and every member of
public shall have access to it.”
Disposing of
the appeal, the Commission held: “The Public Authority/CBSE and its PIO is
directed to take guidance from the above reasoningandverifywhetherappellantisseekingtheinformationaboutpassingofthe
candidate or failure, and if the information being sought is about clearance of
examinations or possession of the 10th and 12th class certificates after
passing the examinations, such details need to be provided under RTI Act, to
the appellant.If he is seeking information about failures, such as memorandum
of marks or details of about number of appearances, the PIO can straight away
reject the same, unless the appellant pleads and establishes larger public interest,
as required u/s 8(1) (j) or comparative public interest, as mandated under
section 8(2) of RTI Act. “
.JPG)
.JPG)
