Mathrubhumi: New Delhi: Tuesday, September 06, 2016.
The Council
for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) does not come within the
purview of a public authority under Section 2(h) of the Right to Information
Act, held the Calcutta High Court on Monday. The court was considering a writ
petition filed by Dinesh Sinha, father of a minor whose RTI application seeking
issuance of original answer scripts was rejected by the council on the ground
that it is not a public authority.
The CISCE is
a private, non-governmental board of school education in India and holds the
Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) examination for Class 10.
Referring to the constitution and regulations of the council, Justice Shivakant
Prasad said: “The council is not a public authority or body or institution of
self- government established or constituted under the Constitution, under the
law enacted by the Parliament or by the State Legislature or body owned,
controlled or substantially financed, directly or indirectly by the fund
provided by the appropriate government. Therefore, it does not come within the
purview of a public authority under Section 2(h) of the said Act.”
The court
said : “The evaluated answer book is also an information under the RTI Act as
it becomes documents or records containing the opinion of the examiner in terms
of Section 2(f) of RTI Act, but in the present case, the council origin being
established by the University of Cambridge legally with the assistance of the
interested Board for Indians by the Societies Registration Act No. XXI of 1860
does not fall within the definition clause of 2(h)(d)(ii) of the RTI Act and
cannot be said to be a public body in possession of a document or record and as
it is not at par with the Central Board of Secondary Education and is not a
state instrumentality within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution.”
.JPG)
.JPG)
