Moneylife: Pune: Thursday, April 04, 2013.
Although
Supreme Court in its verdict in August 2011 ordered that certified copies of
answer sheets is public information under the RTI Act, the Pune University
continues to adhere by its 2008 circular which defies the spirit of the order
and therefore amounts to contempt of court
The Ordinance
number182 of the University of Pune implemented through a circular issued in
2008 puts stringent terms and conditions in providing answer sheets to a
student, which are contrary to the provisions in the Right to Information (RTI)
Act. These include: not providing certified copies of answer sheets; students
to apply for answer sheets within 10 days of the results; applicant to apply
for Photostat copies of maximum three subjects only and; copies to be provided
within 45 days through the principal of the college.
In August
2011, the Supreme Court has ruled that evaluated answer sheets are covered
under the definition of ‘information’ under the RTI Act. Hence, this overrides
any rule or ordinance that an educational institution may have had.
(Read—Ultimate victory for students: Supreme Court judgment orders access of
copies of answer sheets of all examinations. Like the Official Secrecy Act of
1923, which has been overpowered by the RTI Act, the Ordinance no. 182 of the
University of Pune too is as good as non-existent and it is the rules under RTI
that are applicable to the University. However, University of Pune continues to
dictate its own terms as per its 2008 rules.
Pune-based
RTI activist Vivek Velankar received several complaints from students of the
University of Pune who are not being provided certified copies of answer sheets
in the spirit of the RTI Act. States Velankar, “As per the RTI Act, the
University of Pune cannot insist that the student can apply only within 10 days
after the examination result. Since the University of Pune preserves answer
sheets for a period of six months, the student has a right to apply within this
period and s/he cannot be forced to apply only within 10 days as per its Ordinance.
Also, the University of Pune HAS to provide certified copies of answer sheets
and that too within the mandatory 30 days as per the RTI Act.”
Velankar has
sent a legal notice last fortnight, bringing to the notice of University of
Pune as to why its Ordinance No. 182 is irrelevant after the Supreme Court
verdict of 2011which has made answer sheets as public information under the RTI
Act. Says Velankar, “We are giving 30 days to the University of Pune to abide
by the SC judgment and to scrap its 2008 Ordinance, as continuing to implement
it amounts to contempt of court. If it does not do so, we will file a Public
Interest Litigation (PIL).”
Details
of legal notice sent on 16th March are as follows:
NOT
PROVIDING CERTIFIED COPIES:
As per Point
No. 19 of Ordinance of the University of Pune Rule No. 182 in respect of answer
sheets which states as under that, “The Certified copies of revalued answer
sheets are not provided.’’…above Rule No. 182 of Ordinance issued by the
University of Pune is completely contrary to the provisions of the Right to
Information Act and to the judgment of Supreme Court of India in the case of
Central Board of Secondary Education and Anr Vs Aditya Bandopadhyay and Ors
reported in Civil Appeal No. 6454 of 2011. The Supreme Court has thereby ruled
that the definition of information in Section 2 (f) of the Right to Information
Act, 2005, refers to any material in any form which includes records,
documents, opinions, papers amongst several other enumerated items. The term
‘record’ is defined in Section 2(i) of the said Act as including any document
manuscript or file amongst others.
When a
candidate participates in an examination and writes his answers in an answer
book and submits it to the examining body for evaluation by an examiner
appointed by the examining body, the evaluated answer book becomes a record
containing the ‘opinion’ of the examiner. Therefore, the evaluated answer book
is also information under Right to Information Act, 2005. It is further stated
that if the rules and regulations of the examining body provide for
re-evaluation, inspection or disclosure of the answer books, then none of the
principles of the Maharashtra State Board or other decisions following it will
apply or be relevant.
“Therefore it
is stated that as per the Supreme Court ruling, the word ‘evaluation’ shall
mean and include the word re-evaluation and therefore the Rule No. 182 of
Ordinance issued by the University of Pune is completely contrary to the ruling
of the apex court and hence needs to be necessarily modified accordingly to
enable students to get certified copies of their re-evaluated answer sheets. It
is stated that, if the mandate of the apex court Judgment is not followed by
your institution then this may amount to the contempt of the court as
prescribed in the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.”
APPLICATION
TO BE MADE WITHIN 10 DAYS AFTER THE EXAMINATION RESULT:
“It is stated
that the Rule No. 182 of the Ordinance issued by the University of Pune also
states that the student has to apply for certified copies of their re-evaluated
answer sheets within 10 days from the date of examination result. This rule is
also completely contrary to the aforesaid ruling of the apex court. The Supreme
Court of India in the aforesaid judgment makes it amply clear that, “the
obligation under the RTI Act is to make available or give access to existing
information or information which is expected to be preserved or maintained. If
the rules and regulations governing the functioning of the respective public
authority require preservation of the information for only a limited period,
the applicant for information will be entitled to such information only if he
seeks the information when it is available with the public authority. It is
stated that, period of University of Pune is of six months and therefore, the
student is entitled to make an application for the certified copies of the evaluated
answer books within the period of six months and the mandate 10 days time limit
as prescribed in Rule 182 of University of Pune Ordinance is completely
contrary to the judgment of the Supreme Court of India and therefore, it is
required to be modified accordingly. It is stated that, if the mandate of the
apex court judgment is not followed by your institution then this may amount to
the contempt of court as prescribed in the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.”
REGARDING
APPLICATION FOR MAXIMUM OF THREE SUBJECTS ONLY:
“It is stated
that, the Point No. 2 of the said ordinance states that the applicant can apply
for the Photostat copies of maximum three subjects only. This is also
completely contrary to the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005, as the Act does not
provide any such restriction as to how many subjects an applicant can apply for
Photostat copies of the answer books. Therefore the said provision/point in
your Ordinance No. 182 is also contrary to the RTI Act, 2005, and needs to be
modified accordingly.”
REGARDING
NOT PROVIDING ANSWER SHEETS OF PRACTICAL EXAMINATIONS:
“It is also
stated that, Point No 1 of Ordinance 182 provides for the photo copy/copies of
assessed and/or moderated theory subject/s answer book/s of the current examination
will be supplied to the examinee/s. The photo copy/copies of answer books of
practical examination, sessional marks, marks of viva-voce/dissertation/
thesis/project, Common Entrance Test conducted by University, etc shall not be
supplied to the examinee/s. It is stated that as mentioned above, when a
candidate participates in an examination and writes his answers in an answer
book and submits it to the examining body for evaluation by an examiner
appointed by the examining body, the evaluated answer book becomes a record
containing the ‘opinion’ of the examiner. Therefore, any evaluated answer book
is also information under Right to Information Act, 2005. This makes it very
clear that, any evaluation done by the University is also information under RTI
Act, 2005 and therefore, the photo copy/copies of answer books of practical
examination, sessional marks, marks of viva-voce/dissertation/ thesis/ project,
Common Entrance Test conducted by University are also covered under the
provisions of the RTI Act, 2005. Point No. 1 is completely contrary to the
provisions of RTI Act, 2005 and aforesaid judgment of the Supreme Court of
India.”
REGARDING
PROVIDING INFORMATION WITHIN 45 DAYS OF RECEIVING THE REQUEST:
It is also
stated that, Point No. 16 of aforesaid Ordinance 182 states that, “the
University shall supply the photo copy/copies within 45 days from the date of
receipt of application through the principal of the college concerned”. It is
stated that, the aforesaid point of the ordinance is directly and completely
contrary to the provisions of Section 7 of the Right to Information Act, 2005,
which states that 7. Disposal of request—(/) subject to the proviso to
sub-section (2) of Section 5 or the proviso to sub-section (3) of Section 6,
the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as
the case may be, on receipt of a request under Section 6 shall, as
expeditiously as possible, and in any case within thirty days of the receipt of
the request. either provide the information on payment of such fee as may be
prescribed or reject the request for any of the reasons specified in Sections 8
and 9: 6 This provision mandates the information which is sought has to be
provided to the applicant within the maximum period of thirty day and no
further extension is allowed by the provisions of the Section 7 of RTI Act,
2005. Therefore, the time period of 45 days is completely and directly contrary
to the provisions of RTI Act, 2005, and needs to modify accordingly.
REGARDING
UNIVERSITY OF PUNE WRONGLY ABIDING BY ITS OWN ORDINANCE
It is also
stated that the RTI Act, 2005, is a central enactment and has to be followed in
its true spirit and any provision/ rules made by any public authority contrary
to the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005, shall attract the provisions of the
Section 22 which reads thus “Act to have overriding effect—the provisions of
this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith
contained in the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (19 of 1923), and any other law for
the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law
other than this Act”.
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