Times
of India: Dehradun: Monday, 23 November 2015.
Central
Information Commission (CIC) has come to the rescue of a resident of Dehradun
who had been attempting hard to get his mark-sheet from a university in Tamil
Nadu after he graduated last year. Instead of giving him his mark-sheet,
university staffers allegedly told him that he needed to re-appear for three
examinations. An examination fee was also charged for the purpose, but the
student discovered later that he had passed all these examinations in the first
attempt.
In an order
dated November 16, CIC imposed a penalty of Rs10,000 on the Manonmaniam
Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, as Sagar Sharma, a resident of Prem Nagar,
who graduated from there last year, had been misinformed.
Chief
information commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu observed that Sharma was told to
sit for three examinations again, despite the fact that he had passed them all.
An RTI
application that the student had submitted earlier had been turned down, on the
grounds that he had not attached a demand draft with it. The CIC observed that
it was also a serious matter that an RTI application submitted in May 2015 had
been rejected, and that a postal order was not accepted as payment for the
application fees.
After his May
2015 RTI query seeking his marksheet went unanswered, the student approached
the Union ministry of human resource development and the university. When all
his efforts failed, he sought the assistance of the Central Information
Commission, New Delhi.
After the
university informed Sharma that he needed to take three examinations again, he
had paid Rs10,000 as examination fee. He discovered later that he need not take
these examinations again at all - he had passed all three in the first attempt.
In his order,
the CIC told the HRD ministry and the university to provide the student his
mark sheet in 30 days' time. An explanation for what action has been taken
against the official responsible for giving out the wrong information has also
been demanded.
During the
hearing of the matter, the HRD ministry and the representative of the
university said the student had not cleared all dues owed to the Tamil Nadu
varsity. He had been informed in October 2014 that he owed the university dues
totalling Rs 14,143, the representative of the university said.
The CIC,
however, sought to know why the IPO was not accepted as payment for the RTI
application, and why the student was told he needed to re-appear in
examinations he had already passed.
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