The Logical Indian: New Delhi: Tuesday,
September 11, 2018.
The Central Board of Secondary Education
(CBSE), the largest educational board in the country has landed itself into a
soup again, with a contempt petition having been filed against it before the
Supreme Court of India challenging the denial of access of evaluated
answer-sheets to millions of students under the Right to Information act and
charging an exorbitant fee of Rs. 1200 per subject for the same. In their
petition, cofounders of the Whistle for Public Interest (WHIP) Kumar Shanu and
Paras Jain allege this as being violative of the Apex Court judgements in the
cases of CBSE & Anr. v. Aditya Bandhopadhyay & Ors. and Kumar Shanu vs.
YSK Seshu Kumar, Chairman, CBSE. The duo had admirably taken CBSE to Supreme
Court in the year 2016 for the same issue and won the case resulting into a
victory of “the Fundamental Right to Know.”
In the year 2011, the Supreme Court of
India passed a landmark judgement in CBSE & Anr. Vs. Aditya Bandhopadhyay
& Ors. wherein it was held that “Answer-sheet is an information and the
examinees have the fundamental and legal right to access their evaluated
answer-sheets under the Right to Information Act, 2005. (RTI Act).”
The 2016 case
Whistle of Public Interest (WHIP) is a
platform for law students and young lawyers to put their advocacy skills to use
in solving public issues and works for promoting transparency and
accountability in the affairs of public authorities in India. In the year 2016,
it came to WHIP’s knowledge that CBSE was charging an exorbitant fee of Rs.
1200 for obtaining the copies of answer-sheets and was blatantly denying the
access to evaluated answer-sheets under the RTI Act.
It was not only the violation of
fundamental right of millions of students every year but also a contempt of the
Supreme Court of India. While still at the law school, in 2016, the cofounders
of WHIP filed a contempt petition against the Chairman, CBSE. Consequently, a
division bench of the Supreme Court comprising Shri. Ranjan Gogoi J. and Shri.
P.C. Pant J. directed the Chairman, CBSE to scrupulously observe the directions
of Supreme Court issued in Aditya Bandhopadhyay’s
case and provide the copies of evaluated answer-sheets as per rules made under
the RTI Act.
Mockery of law by a public education
board responsible for educating the society
According to Kumar Shanu, the co-founder
of WHIP and currently a student at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy,
this is a willful and deliberate attempt of the Central Education Board to
surpass and overrule the authority of the Apex court of the country. He further states that it is very
disheartening to observe that a public education board responsible for
educating a large section of the society making a mockery of the rule of law.
Noted Public Interest Lawyer and activist, Prashant Bhushan has been
representing the Petitioners in the case without any professional fees. The
matter is listed for hearing on Monday, September 10, 2018.