This article contains a brief note for the leading case of CBSE v. Aditya Bandopadhyay, (2011) 8 SCC 497, which is a part of the paper “Leading Cases” for the Supreme Court Advocate on Record Examination 2015. This note was a part of my lecture delivered in 2013 to about 100+ Advocates who were preparing for the AOR examination. It is a part of the AOR series on leading cases.
CBSE v. Aditya Bandopadhyay, (2011) 8 SCC 497:
The first respondent in this case appeared for the Secondary School Examination, 2008 conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). He was disappointed with his marks. He thought that his answer books were not properly valued. Therefore, he made an application for inspection and re-evaluation of his answer books. The Supreme Court held as under:
- Examinee in a public examination has a right to inspect his evaluated answer books or taking certified copies thereof.
- However, re-evaluation of answer books in this case was not allowed since neither it is available under the RTI Act nor under the bye-laws of CBSE.
- If the examinees are to be given access to evaluated answer books either by permitting inspection or by granting certified copies, such access will have to be given only to that part of the answer book which does not contain any information or signature of the examiners/co-ordinators / scrutinisers / head examiners, exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1)(g) of the RTI Act. Those portions of the answer books which contain information regarding the examiners / co-ordinators / scrutinisers / head examiners or which may disclose their identity with reference to signature or initials, shall have to be removed, covered, or otherwise severed.
- The right to access above information does not extend beyond the period during which the examining body is expected to retain the answer books. In the case of CBSE, the answer books are required to be maintained for a period of three months and thereafter they are liable to be disposed of/destroyed.
- Right to information is a facet of the freedom of “speech and expression” as contained in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India and such a right is subject to any reasonable restriction in the interest of the security of the State and subject to exemptions and exceptions.
- When a candidate participates in an examination and writes his answers in an answer book and submits it to the examining body for evaluation and declaration of the result, the answer book is a document or record. When the answer book is evaluated by an examiner appointed by the examining body, the evaluated answer book becomes a record containing the “opinion” of the examiner. Therefore the evaluated answer book is also an “information” under the RTI Act.
- It was held that examining bodies are neither “intelligence” nor “security” organisations and therefore, they are not covered under S. 24 exemption under RTI Act. Likewise, it was held that disclosure of information with reference to answer books does not involve infringement of any copyright and therefore, exemption under Section 9 of RTI Act will not apply. Similarly, it was held that other exemptions under RTI Act were also not available.
IMPORTANT: Read notes on other leading cases for the SC AOR Examination: AOR Series.
