It looks like students have a rescuer who would solve their
problems of rechecking copies; it's the chief information commissioner (CIC) of
India. It gave an announcement in favor of students who face delays or high
charges in getting their answer sheets evaluated.
An appeal was filed by a Delhi University student Abne Ingty who had challenged the cost of Rs 750 per question paper imposed for accessing answer sheets under the RTI Act, to this CIC directed that universities can't charge more than Rs2 per page.
According to CIC Sridhar Acharyulu of Delhi University that by charging Rs 750, two classes of students are created "“ one who can and who can't. Thus, right of equality guaranteed by Article 14 of the Constitution is hampered.
According to CIC, such costs will deny students of getting information due to their status. No person should be discriminated due to his economic status and an educational institution should certainly not charge a high price.
CIC insisted University Grant Commission (UGC) and Association of Indian Universities that this rule needs to be published and followed in every educational body. Also, the Union HRD ministry needs to make it mandatory for universities that Rs 2 per page for answer sheet should be charged.
This rule will definitely benefit students who are waiting to get their copies rechecked.
According to a B.Sc. student, Vismay Mansetta, he has been asked to pay Rs 1000 by Saurashtra University to get his answer sheets checked. So, he filed an appeal in Gujarat Information Commission (GIC).
Another student, Deep Maradia (whose RTI application had exposed blunders in assessment in professional courses like MBA at the Gujarat Technological University) said that this order will be a benefit for students and would bring uniformity.
Shailendra singh Jadeja (an RTI activist) said that this order will bring uniformity as there are large numbers of students who find it difficult to get their answer sheets evaluated.