Petition Filed against CBSE for Charging Excess Fees for Evaluated Answer Sheets

June 06, 2018

It has been reported that a contempt petition has been instituted with the Supreme Court against CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) for allegedly violating its order in the case of CBSE & Anr. v. Aditya Bandhpadhyay and Ors.[1], whereby the Apex Court had upheld the right of an examinee to access his evaluated answer-books, by either inspecting them or take certified copies thereof and had observed that the examining bodies (Universities, Examination Boards, CBSC etc.) are neither security nor intelligence organisations and therefore the exemption under Section 24 of the RTI Act will not apply to them. The disclosure of information with reference to answer-books does not also involve infringement of any copyright and therefore Section 9 of the Act will not apply. Resultantly, unless the examining bodies are able to demonstrate that the evaluated answer-books fall under any of the categories of exempted `information’ enumerated in clauses (a) to (j) of sub-section (1) Section 8, they will be bound to provide access to the information and any applicant can either inspect the document/record, take notes, extracts or obtain certified copies thereof.

In view of the aforesaid, the Petitioners have in the present case contended that CBSE by charging fees of Rs. 1200 for evaluated answer sheet has committed contempt and acted against the Supreme Court’s verdict in Aditya Bandopadhyay case.

The matter is likely to be taken up by vacation Bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday.