GU provides the answer sheet under RTI but blacks out the marks assigned
1 Jan, 2014
An application was filed with the Gujarat University under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get a copy of his evaluated answer sheet of business organization and accounting papers held in August, 2013. The application was filed under Section 7(1)
Subject to the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 5 or the proviso to subsection (3) of section 6, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, on receipt of a request under section 6 shall, as expeditiously as possible, and in any case within thirty days of the receipt of the request, either provide the information on payment of such fee as may be prescribed or reject the request for any of the reasons specified in sections 8 and 9:
Subject to the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 5 or the proviso to subsection (3) of section 6, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, on receipt of a request under section 6 shall, as expeditiously as possible, and in any case within thirty days of the receipt of the request, either provide the information on payment of such fee as may be prescribed or reject the request for any of the reasons specified in sections 8 and 9:
of the RTI Act, a clause pertaining to life and death and which mandates the information officer to furnish the requested information within 48 hours.
In its reply to the application, the university provided the copy of the answer sheet but blackened out the marks assigned to each of the answers. Surprised by the university’s move the applicant lodged a complaint in this regard with the State Information Commission (SIC). The SIC held that the demand of answer sheet under Section 7(1)
Subject to the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 5 or the proviso to subsection (3) of section 6, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, on receipt of a request under section 6 shall, as expeditiously as possible, and in any case within thirty days of the receipt of the request, either provide the information on payment of such fee as may be prescribed or reject the request for any of the reasons specified in sections 8 and 9:
Subject to the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 5 or the proviso to subsection (3) of section 6, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, on receipt of a request under section 6 shall, as expeditiously as possible, and in any case within thirty days of the receipt of the request, either provide the information on payment of such fee as may be prescribed or reject the request for any of the reasons specified in sections 8 and 9:
was quite genuine and said that the move adopted by the university would defeat the purpose of the transparency act and would discourage the students from seeking their answer sheets under RTI Act. The SIC has directed the university to provide certified photocopies of the evaluated answer sheets along with the copy of the model answer sheets to the complainant.
The student was apprehensive that the university might destroy the answer sheets within two months claiming lack of space to store them. However, as per the record retention schedule of the General Administration Department (GAD), the minimum time period for maintaining records is one year.