Can the marks of selected candidates be disclosed to third party under RTI?
13 Dec, 2012Background
The appellant filed two applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) seeking the details of her own raw and scaled up marks for the Civil Services Main Examination and the marks of the last 20 candidates invited for interview. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the information stating that the information was not maintained in the form it had been sought. He also stated that the Supreme Court had already decided that the final marks awarded to a candidate would be recognized and not the raw marks.
Proceeding
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant argued that the desired information should be disclosed. The respondent pointed out that the information was denied because the UPSC did not maintain such information and the appellant had approached the Karnataka High Court where the matter was now sub-judice.
View of CIC
The Commission observed that a candidate has a right to have access to her own evaluated answer sheets if available. The Commission directed the PIO to provide the appellant’s own raw marks and scaled up marks for the Civil Services Main Examination as well as the marks of the last 20 general category candidates invited for interview without disclosing their names or roll numbers. The Commission also held that if the desired information is not available fully or partly the PIO shall inform the appellant suitably.
Citation: Ms. Sumane Arora v. Union Public Services Commission in File No.CIC/SM/A/2012/000536 & 541
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/867
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission