Delhi University is currently fighting a legal battle to reserve its right to charge a fee to provide re-evaluation and rechecking of answer sheets when students ask for it. A court case is currently in process as the varsity has claimed that it cannot allow the inspection of answer sheets under the RTI Act because it already has its own mechanism in place for the same which charges a fee for the process.
The case was filed by a student last year trying to get his answer sheet inspected for Rs.10 instead of paying DU close to Rs.2000 for re-evaluation.
What did the High Court say?
“Show some magnanimity. You say you can give the certified copy of the entire file, but you can’t allow the file to be inspected. This is absurd, said the Delhi High Court to the Delhi University, as per IANS.
“Suppose the fee for providing the certified copy of answer script is Rs.2,000 and fee for inspection of the same is Rs.10 as per the RTI Act, then what would he prefer. He will definitely go for inspection. You cannot impose your choice over his discretion,“ the court observed on March 12 at the hearing.
The court case first came to light in September 2018 when the DU law student chose the route of RTI to get his answer sheet inspected instead of what the varsity wants its students to do.
When the university dismissed his RTI, he approached the Central Information Commission (CIC), which directed the varsity to allow the inspection.
In September 2018, the court had directed the university to allow the student to inspect his answer sheet as an interim measure under section 2(J) of the RTI Act.
However, if the court ultimately dismisses the writ petition filed by the university, the decision is sure to see a nationwide ripple effect. Other universities might follow suit and relieve their students from a burdensome fee for answer sheet revaluation.
As IANS reported last year, the Delhi University earned over Rs.3 crore in fees paid by students for either revaluation or rechecking answer sheets and for providing photocopies of answer sheets to them between 2015-16 and 2017-18. This is for merely two years.
The varsity earns a sizable amount through this process of charging a high fee for answer sheet rechecking and re-evaluation.
The court case between Delhi University and one of its students fighting for the right to get his answer sheet inspected for Rs.10 under RTI has now been postponed to July.Reported by India Today
~Preksha Mishra
