The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was alleged recently for charging as much as Rs. 1,000 from class 10 students and Rs. 1,200 from 12th standard students who request for copies of their answer sheets under the transparency law. After evaluating the process strictly, an organisation of young lawyers called the Whistle for Public Interest (WHIP) filed a petition against the board. Now, in response to the contempt plea and as per the order of the Supreme Court, CBSE has agreed and decided to provide answer sheets at Rs. 2 per page to the students. CBSE Revises Class 10 & 12 Question Paper Format! List of All Changes Made by the Board for 2018–19 Exams. 

The Supreme Court in 2016, following a 2011 verdict had ordered CBSE that the students have the fundamental rights to access their evaluated answer sheets under the Right to Information Act (RTI). It appeared that the board had utterly ignored and went on publishing the notification mentioning the fee for the class 10 and 12 students who want their evaluated sheets. Co-founders of the WHIP, Kumar Shanu and Paras Jain alleged that the move is a clear violation of the SC 2011 verdict. On September 10, the SC reportedly issued a notice to the educational board on the plea seeking action for violating the court’s order.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph disposed of the contempt petition after taking note of the affidavit filed before it by CBSE chairperson Anita Karwal. It referred as quoted by the Bar and Bench, “it is only where the process of providing photocopy of answer books, gets linked with the process of redressal of the grievances of the students – who seek revaluation of their answer books that the student candidate would be required to pay an amount of Rs 700 for class XII, and not Rs. 1200 as contended.”

These amounts as per the counter statement, were charged owing to the “huge infrastructure and manpower” required for the process. CBSE insisted that they strictly followed the RTI Act when it came to providing photocopies of answer sheets to the students. The apex court accepted the same and disposed of the contempt petition. Hence, students can now avail copies of their answer at Rs. 2 per page.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 30, 2018 07:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).