Moneylife: Pune:
Friday, 11 December 2015.
In
an important decision, the CIC has asked CBSE to pay a penalty of Rs25,000 for
harassment to a parent by denying information and also for taking undertakings
from students who file RTI for answer sheets, which amounts to obstructing
information.
In
a noteworthy and heartening decision, Central Information Commissioner Prof M Sridhar
Acharyulu, has provided relief to thousands of students who are harassed
by authorities at the Central Board of
Secondary Education (CBSE) which asks students to sign an illegal undertaking,
if they file Right to Information (RTI) application seeking copies of answer
sheets. The terms and condition of the undertaking is such that it amounts to
denial of information. The CIC order has hit upon three points, which should
put the CBSE in place and give students their rightful information, that is, copies
of answer sheets. In the 3 December 2015 decision, Prof Sridhar has stated:
1.
That the CIC “considers that the appellant who is the
father of the candidate is entitled for the copies of the answer sheets of his
son, which shall be supplied to him within 15 days from the date of receipt of
this order, free of cost.”
2.
CBSE to pay a compensation of Rs25,000 to the child’s
father for “the hardship he was made to face and undergo harassment in
obtaining the information from the public Authority.”
3.
CBSE has been taking illegal undertakings from students
(who file RTI to seek copies of their answer sheets). He has ruled that the
“Commission holds that the undertakings prescribed by the CBSE will be serious
obstructions to the access to information. The Public Authority can only deny
the information under Sections 8/9 of the RTI Act.”
The
CIC has also directed the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of CBSE,
“to show cause why penalty should not be imposed for not furnishing the
information within the prescribed period.”
Background:
Vijay
Kumar Mishra, lives in Samastipur and his son studies in a CBSE School. He
filed an RTI application on CBSE seeking answer sheets of his son’s papers way
back in 2013. However, the Public Information Officer (PIO) as well as the
First Appellate Authority (FAA) denied him the information. Shockingly, the FAA
stated denial of information was because the father, not the student had filed
the RTI. His reply to the parent was:
1.
Requests/applications for supply of answer sheets should
be made only through online within 10 days from the date of declaration of the
result.
2.
After downloading the hardcopy of the printout of the
request/confirmation page, from the website, the candidate should get the same
reached to the CBSE office, before the specified date, along with the fee and
other prescribed enclosures.
3.
An undertaking from the candidate, written in his own
handwriting and under his own signature and not by anyone else on his behalf
should also be enclosed. The signature should correspond to that present on the
Admit Card of the candidate.
4.
The candidate cannot question the evaluation done by the
examiner but only point out the errors in the totalling of marks, or the
answers which were not evaluated by the examiner and communicate the same in
writing to the CBSE within 10 days from the date of receipt of the evaluated
answer sheets.
5.
The copies of the answer sheets shall be provided to the
candidates by blocking the information relating to the identity of the
Examiner.
6.
The candidate should also undertake that the copies of
his answer sheets shall not be given to any institution or school for display,
commercial purpose or to print media.
Finally,
Mishra filed second appeal at the Central Information Commission (CIC) at
Delhi, where the matter was heard and decided on 3 December 2015. The CIC has
considered all the terms and conditions put by CBSE as “illegal” and “serious
obstruction to access of information”.
Upholding
the right of the father to file RTI for his son, Prof Sridhar also stated, “The
CPIO and the CBSE should have the common sense and general knowledge that a
12th class student is generally a minor boy and his father is natural guardian.
The natural guardian has a legal duty and authority to secure the rights and
benefits of the minor boy. In that capacity he has every right to seek right to
information of his son be implemented and any injustice occurring to his son in
evaluation of his answer scripts which might affect his career forever. The
CBSE did not explain in reasonable terms why it has denied the natural guardian
from exercising his legal duty to secure the legal interests of his son
including his right to information. Hence the reason cited to deny the ‘father’
is unreasonable and illegal and also in violation of rights of the minor boy.
The CBSE has no authority to impose such restriction on the rights of minor and
his guardian.”
Lambasting
the CBSE for imposing a condition to relinquish right to seek evaluation, the
CIC said, “If a student has a legally recognized right to reevaluation, why
should he relinquish it simply because he wanted to exercise another legal
right to information by seeking to have copy of the answer script? By imposing
this condition the CBSE is not only restricting that right to information, but
also insulating itself from being accountable. This condition that student
should sign off his rights by an undertaking is a serious obstruction to right
to information of minor boy and his guardian.”
This
CIC decision has clearly empowered students of CBSE and their parents, so go
ahead and invoke your right to access copies of your answer sheets under RTI
and yes, do not sign the “illegal” undertakings.
.JPG)
.JPG)
