The Telegraph: New Delhi: Thursday, August 18,2106.
Class X and XII students who have taken CBSE exams will no longer have to pay a fee of Rs 1,000 per subject for getting their answer sheets under the Right to Information Act.
Whistle for Public Interest (WHIP), a group representing law students, had submitted a representation to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) demanding the supply of answer sheets to students under RTI at a fee of Rs 2 per page.
The Supreme Court had earlier pointed out that the CBSE, by not providing answer sheets to students at Rs 2 per sheet, is not abiding by the apex court's directive. The Supreme Court had in 2011 held that every student had the fundamental and legal right to access his or her answer sheets under the RTI Act at a charge of Rs 2 per page.
The division bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Prafulla C Pant on Tuesday directed the CBSE to scrupulously observe the directions of the top court and the rules framed under the Right to Information Act, 2005. WHIP, which is run by Patna boy Kumar Shanu and his colleague Paras Jain, both law graduates, had submitted a memorandum to CBSE chairman Y.S.K. Seshu Kumar in March this year, pointing out that the Supreme Court had in 2011 directed that every student had the fundamental and legal right to access his or her answer sheets under the RTI Act for a fee of Rs 2 per page.
On behalf of WHIP, advocate Prashant Bhushan had rendered his services pro bono to the Patna student in the case. Shanu, while speaking to The Telegraph, said: "The Supreme Court order is going to benefit a large number of students studying in CBSE schools who can get their answer sheets at the rate of Rs 2 per page."
Shanu further said that based on the RTI reply, WHIP got to know that CBSE was charging Rs 700 per subject for providing the copy of answer sheets to the students.
"In addition to this, students were compulsorily required to go through the process of verification of marks whereby CBSE has prescribed a fee of Rs 300 per subject, which ultimately make students eligible to apply for getting the copies of answer sheets. It means a student who wishes to have access to his/her answer sheet will have to shell out a total of Rs 1,000 per subject." According to the WHIP member, the CBSE, by charging such exorbitant rates, was not abiding by the Supreme Court directives.
The top court's order has come as a relief for students. Mohammed Salman Mozaffar, a Class XI student at St Michael's High School, Patna, said: "The Supreme Court directive is going to help students as they can get their copies at a nominal rate against the earlier exorbitant fee of Rs 1,000." Students, he added, should have the right to see what marks the evaluator has given and therefore charging Rs 1,000 per subject was not justified.
Nishant Pandey, a Class XII student of St. Dominic Savio's High School, agreed. "It will help students a lot financially. If a student wants to see the answer sheets of five subjects, he or she will have to pay Rs 5,000 which many cannot afford," he said.
The CBSE regional office has no information about such a directive. CBSE regional officer R.R. Meena said: "We have not received any such information from CBSE in this direction."
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