Gujarat Education Board "sets aside" SC order, has no provision for RTI plea for copies of answer sheets: MAGP

By A Representative
The Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board, which declared science stream results on May 12, wants those seeking copy of the corrected answer sheets to apply online, pay Rs 300 per answer sheet, allegedly in complete in violation of a Supreme Court order, which allows students to obtain it through a Right to Information (RTI) plea within 48 hours.
Taking strong exception to the Board move, Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel (MAGP), the state’s premier Right to Information (RTI) NGO, has asked it to follow the Supreme Court judgment of 2011 (SCA 6454/2011) which said that the “answer sheet” falls within the definition of information, and every student has right to seek a copy of the her/his answer sheet “within 48 hours of filing RTI application as per section 7(1) of RTI Act.”
The RTI Act’s section 7(1) wants the information, if it concerns the life or liberty of a person, to be provided within 48 hours of the receipt of the application.
In its letter to the Board, MAGP says, as the Board website does not show RTI link and details of public information officers (PIOs), it needs to clarify how it going to the implement RTI Act. The letter wants the Board to make immediate corrections on its website.
MAGP’s letter to the Board follows several calls it received on the RTI helpline (9924085000) from students and parents, who, it says, complained that “there is no citizen-friendly mechanism for accepting RTI application at the Board office at Gandhinagar.”
Worse, adds MAGP, “Their websites also not showing RTI link and names of PIOs and appellate authorities, as required under Section 4 of the RTI Act.”
Simultaneously, taking into cognizance the fact that the matter concerns the future of students, MAGP has filed a complaint the Gujarat State Information Commission (SIC), the state’s RTI watchdog, under section 18 of RTI Act, which allows an SIC to receive and inquire into a grievance urgently.
MAGP, in a statement, insists, answer sheets do not “fall in the category of fiduciary relationship” and the RTI Act has “the overriding effect over any other rules that exist for preventing information to be disclosed or rules for providing information.”
“The Board is expected to declare by issuing a press note that RTI applications will be received and certified copies of the answer sheets will be provided. The provisions of checking OMR or answer sheets cannot restrict a student’s right to seek certified copy”, Harinesh Pandya of MAGP insists.
“The charge for seeking answer sheet is Rs 2 per page as per provisions of the RTI Act. The Board cannot decide the timeline, procedure and unreasonable prices contravene to the Act”, he adds.
Pankti Jog, who handles RTI helpline, says, “We appeal to students to file RTI application on a stamp paper, or with through court fee/revenue stamp, or by paying Rs 20 in cash on a plain paper. The PIO of the Board should furnish copy or respond within eight hours.”
“Our helpline will help students to file RTI applications. If they do not get response, student can file complaint to Gujarat Information Commission”, she adds.

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

UP tribal woman human rights defender Sokalo released on bail

By A Representative After almost five months in jail, Adivasi human rights defender and forest worker Sokalo Gond has been finally released on bail.Despite being granted bail on October 4, technical and procedural issues kept Sokalo behind bars until November 1. The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), which are backing Sokalo, called it a "major victory." Sokalo's release follows the earlier releases of Kismatiya and Sukhdev Gond in September. "All three forest workers and human rights defenders were illegally incarcerated under false charges, in what is the State's way of punishing those who are active in their fight for the proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act (2006)", said a CJP statement.

Jayanthi Natarajan "never stood by tribals' rights" in MNC Vedanta's move to mine Niyamigiri Hills in Odisha

By A Representative The Odisha Chapter of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), which played a vital role in the struggle for the enactment of historic Forest Rights Act, 2006 has blamed former Union environment minister Jaynaynthi Natarjan for failing to play any vital role to defend the tribals' rights in the forest areas during her tenure under the former UPA government. Countering her recent statement that she rejected environmental clearance to Vendanta, the top UK-based NMC, despite tremendous pressure from her colleagues in Cabinet and huge criticism from industry, and the claim that her decision was “upheld by the Supreme Court”, the CSD said this is simply not true, and actually she "disrespected" FRA.

Stands 'exposed': Cavalier attitude towards rushed construction of Char Dham project

By Bharat Dogra* The nation heaved a big sigh of relief when the 41 workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel (Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand) were finally rescued on November 28 after a 17-day rescue effort. All those involved in the rescue effort deserve a big thanks of the entire country. The government deserves appreciation for providing all-round support.

'Restructuring' Sahitya Akademi: Is the ‘Gujarat model’ reaching Delhi?

By Prakash N. Shah* A fortnight and a few days have slipped past that grim event. It was as if the wedding preparations were complete and the groom’s face was about to be unveiled behind the ceremonial tinsel. At 3 PM on December 18, a press conference was poised to announce the Sahitya Akademi Awards .

Search This Blog