Students can get answer sheets: Haryana info panel

Times of India‎‎: Chandigarh: Friday, August 12, 2016.

Haryana state information commission has ruled that the university can't stop a student from seeking photocopies of answer sheets under the RTI Act. The panel said the RTI Act enabled the students to access their answer sheets as "information," even if the university rules don't permit that.

Guru Jambeshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar had refused to give copies of answer sheets to a student Raman Mehra on the ground that "there was no rule for supplying the answer sheet or copy of answer sheet."

Hisar resident Mehra wanted a photocopy of his answer sheet of two subject of M Tech (mechanical), which was refused.

Now, state information commissioner Yoginder Paul Gupta has directed the university to supply attested photo copies of the answer sheets to the applicant.

"Even if there is no provision in the rules of the respondent university for giving certified copies of the answer sheets, the provisions of the RTI Act entitle an information seeker to get certified copies of his answer sheets," Gupta observed in a recent order.

The information commissioner stressed that Section 22 of the RTI Act said that the provisions of this Act will have effect, notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than this Act. The university's state public information officer (SPIO) Sanjay Singh had informed Mehra that he can inspect his answer sheet(s) on depositing requisite fee of Rs 100 per answer sheet.

But, the commission made it clear that the SPIO will not demand any documentation charges other than that prescribed under the Haryana Right to Information Rules, 2009. Under RTI Act, the charges for the inspection of documents are very nominal in the state.

The state information commission has observed that various state government universities in Haryana have different rules and different fee structure for providing copies of the answer sheets to an information seeker. While Guru Jambeshwar University rules do not permit giving certified copies of answer sheets (only inspection is allowed), universities like Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, and Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, give certified copies of the answer sheets after payment of the prescribed fee.