RTI to let students view answer sheets

[ganpat1956]

Ahmedabad, May 11: THE Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel, an initiative of Janpath, will set up guidance centres in different parts of Gujarat on Saturday to help students studying in Class XII view their answer sheets under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The results of Class XII (Science) will be declared on Saturday. Guidance centres will be started in Ahmedabad, Naroda, Dholka, Surat, Vadodara, Jamnagar, Bharuch, Surendranagar and Mehasana.

Students can file RTI applications to get a copy of their answer sheets in 48 hours with the help of these guidance centres.

The guidance centres will function for three days. Apart from guidance centres, a citizens’ orientation camp will also be organised in Ahmedabad.

Talking to the media about these guidance centres, Harinesh Pandya of Janpath said, “A lot of procedure needs to be followed to get one’s answer sheet but if a student applies under Section 7 (1) of the RTI Act which says that the information needs to be provided within 48 hours if it concerns the life and liberty of the person, then the burden of the proof is on the PIO if he chooses to reject the application.”

The Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel also revealed its data for the whole year which included the number and the kind of calls made on its helpline.

While 12, 427 calls were made last year on the helpline, a majority of calls were made by people seeking information from the State Revenue Department.

Fourteen percent calls on the helpline was made by government functionaries and 86 percent calls were made by the citizens.

RTI to let students view answer sheets

[karira]

HC stay on SIC order, students contemplate legal recourse

Ahmedabad, June 7: Justice R R Tripathi of Gujarat High Court has granted stay against the order passed by State Information Commission (SIC) directing Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) to provide certified copy of answer sheets within fifteen days if sought under RTI by the students. The SIC had passed the said order on June 4. Challenging the order, the board moved a petition in the High Court on June 6 which was taken up for hearing on June 7. Appearing for the board, additional advocate general Mihir Joshi and advocate Deepak Dave submitted that if implemented, the SIC order would lead to “administrative chaos.”

They also pointed out an order passed by the Central Information Commission (CIC) which held that Central Board students cannot be provided answer sheets by the board. Advocate Joshi and advocate Dave contended that the state commission should have followed the CIC order.

After the submissions, the court has admitted the petition and granted stay on the SIC order. While the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) is heaving a sigh of relief, guardians of the 103 students who had sought the copies are gearing up for a legal battle.
Soon after more than a hundred Std XII students, armed with the Right To Information Act’s life and liberty clause, demanded their respective answer-sheets, the SIC had asked the Board to furnish certified copies of the evaluated answer-sheets last Monday. The commission also asked the board to furnish a certified copy of the model key answers to all the 103 students.
However, Board members argue that GSHSEB approached the court in view of the larger good. Board secretary R K Pathak says, “SIC’s decision would not have served the interest of public, rather it would have only caused significant difficulties for the Board. However, with the stay order, we’ll not have to furnish these copies.”
Meanwhile, parents of the students will be meeting on Thursday to determine the next course of action. “The children are in very high spirit and want to fight it out more than us,” said Kamal Kadri, whose daughter Susan Kadri appeared for Std XII Science exams. “We’ll do our best to vacate the stay to get justice,” he added. Calling the order a temporary set back, Suresh Patel, whose daughter is also seeking certified copies, says, “We’s follow the legal course of action and fight it to the end. The students will wait for a permanent decision, ushering transparency and accountablity on part of the Board.” Students have also found support in Harinesh Pandya, a member of Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel, who had earlier argued the students’ case before the information commission. Talking to Newsline he says, “Being a public authority which runs on our money, the board must be accountable for its doings. I don’t see why they are shunning their responsibility to be transparent and accountable.

HC stay on SIC order, students contemplate legal recourse

[karira]

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AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) has filed a caveat regarding the HSC answer sheets issue.

The vacation Bench had on May 7, issued a stay on a Gujarat Information Commission’s (GIC) order that directed the GSHSEB to provide certified copies of answer sheets to more than 100 students who had applied under Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Deepak Dave, appearing on behalf of GSHSEB, moved a caveat stating that the court should give a hearing to the board before passing any order if an appeal was filed by any student.

The board, during the hearing before Justice R R Tripathi, had contended that the process of photocopying 70 lakh answer sheets would throw the system out of gear. It also pointed out the huge administrative expenditure involved in the photocopying.

The board had contended that the GIC order had failed to consider an apex court ruling of 1984 in the case of Maharashtra state board of secondary and higher secondary education versus Paritosh Sheth where the court had vehemently opposed the inspection of answer sheets.

It was also pointed out that the SC in this case had also ruled that the process of inspection would hinder the aspect of ‘finality’ attached to declaration of public examination results.

GSHSEB files caveat on RTI pleas-Ahmedabad-Cities-The Times of India