Times of India: New Delhi: Saturday, April 26, 2014.
In an order
that would help students across the capital, the Delhi high court held that a
student can obtain copies of answer sheets by paying Rs 2 per page, in line
with the RTI Act, instead of the amount asked by the educational institution.
A division
bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Pradeep Nandrajog has said that
under the Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005, Rs 2
will be charged for each page (A4 or A3 size paper) copied and no fee will be
charged in the first hour of inspection.
The court's
order came on the plea filed by a student of The Institute of Company
Secretaries of India, who had challenged the institute's demand of Rs 500 for
obtaining a copy of the answer book under the Act. Petitioner Paras Jain had
applied for the inspection of his answer sheets under the RTI Act. On August
12, 2013, inspection was allowed by the ICSI but the institute refused to
provide the copies at the rate of Rs 2 per page as prescribed under RTI Rules,
2012, he claimed.
The
petitioner claimed that after two days, the examination committee of ICSI
decided to charge Rs 450 for the inspection of answer sheets. "Fee of Rs
500 per subject/answer books payable for supply of certified copies of answer
books and Rs 450 per answer book for providing inspection thereof respectively.
The fee shall be paid through demand draft drawn in favour of The Institute of
Company Secretaries of India, payable at New Delhi," the guidelines of the
institute stated.
"This
was a move to discourage students to inspect their answer sheets under the RTI
Act, 2005," Jain said. Holding that the demand of the institute asking for
a fee of Rs 500 per subject/answer book copy is "not sustainable",
the HC said, "We dispose of appeal quashing guideline number 3 notified by
the respondent (institute) and declare that for the answer sheets copy is
sought by the appellant (Jain) he shall be charged fee as per Rule 4 of the
Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005".
The court
added, "It is trite that an executive instruction if in violation of a
statutory rule or a regulation must yield to the statutory rule or regulation".
.JPG)
.JPG)
