Madhya Pradesh universities have decided to do away with the revaluation system on the ground that the procedure is rather cumbersome. However, a student, who wants his/her answer sheet revaluated, could take recourse to Right to Information (RTI) route for the purpose. 

The new rule also seeks to scrap the provision that no mark will be added to the revaluated answer sheet unless there is a 10% increase in total marks. Also, the double rounds of revaluation will be eliminated in the new system.

The coordination committee of the state’ universities headed by chancellor and governor Ram Naresh Yadav passed a resolution to this effect on Thursday at Raj Bhawan in Bhopal. Vice-chancellors of the state’s universities attended the meeting. 

Confirming this, officiating vice-chancellor of the Devi Ahilya Vishwa Vidyalaya (DAVV) Raj Kamal said the committee passed the resolution that students can seek revaluation under the RTI. However, the government is yet to issue a notification on the matter. 

The resolution provides change in the rule to apply for revaluation. Now a student, who wants revaluation of his/her answer sheet, will have to apply under the RTI Act. His application will be submitted to a three-member committee to be formed at university level. 

The committee will put across the student’s demand to the university and then revaluation will be permitted. In the existing practice, students wanting revaluation are required to fill revaluation form available at their college office.

SOME USEFUL GUIDELINES FOR STUDENTS TO APPLY TO ACCESS A COPY OF THE ANSWER SHEET

1. If the student has not completed 18 years of age, the application has to be made by his / her father or mother or guardian to be on the safer side. The student has to give consent only.
If the student is above 18 years of age on the date of filing the application, he himself can file the application under RTI, with relevant changes in the format described, or get it filed by his father / mother / guardian in the format given by signing the authority portion.

2. Please make payment of the filing fee as per RTI rules of your state to which the examining board belongs. CBSE is a central government entity and for this you should pay Rs10 by postal order, drawn in favour of the Accounts Officer, Central Board of Secondary Education, made payable at Delhi.

3. Please use the format as prescribed by your state RTI rules, or if not prescribed use the format given. Do not omit the reference to the judgment of the High Court of Calcutta in any format. Add it as a note.

4. The details of the format and payment of fee state-wise, are available at http://www.rti.gov.in and also in guide section of http://www.rtiindia.org.

5. The address of the public information officer is available at the RTI link on the website of the relevant examination board.

6. The format described can also be followed university exams with the appropriate changes.

7. If you do not get a reply within 40 days of mailing this application, or if the reply is not satisfactory, file the first appeal immediately. For details visit: http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/blogs/jps ... govts.html

8. In case of difficulty, post your problem on the portal and members will assist you. Please visit
http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/blogs/jps ... ation.html

If you have doubts about the marks you have secured, here’s how to apply to access a copy of the answer sheet. 

The Right to Information Act 2005

Application to obtain information
Date:
By Speed Post
To,
The Public Information Officer
______________________ Board
Address:

1. Name of the applicant:
2. Full address:
Mobile phone number:
Email ID:
3. Particulars of information required:
My son / daughter / ward _____ (write name here) _____ appeared for _____ standard examination of your board in the month of _____ . A photocopy of the mark sheet is attached for ready reference.
Please permit me and my son / daughter / ward to inspect his / her answer sheet/s as well as other relevant records and also provide me certified photocopies of his / her answer sheet/s pertaining to the following subjects:
[A]
[B]
4. Details of payment of filing fees.
5. Please rush the information to me by Speed / Registered Post.
6. Please also provide me file notings and action taken report on this application along with your reply. 

Note: I am emphatically drawing your kind attention to,
(A) 49-page judgment of a two-judge bench of the Honourable High Court of Calcutta in M.A.T. No. 275 of 2008 in University of Calcutta and others versus Pritam Rooj.
(B) Judgment dated 30-08-2010 of the Honourable Kerala High Court in WP(C). No. 6532 of 2006(C).
© Madras High Court judgment dated 13-09-2010 in R Ramasamy versus Dr Ambedkar Law University in W.P. (MD) No.4815 of 2008.

Signature of applicant

Authority:  I authorise and permit the public information officer, to supply information sought by my father / mother / guardian and also allow me and my father / mother / guardian to inspect relevant answer sheet/s and connected records as requested per this application. I waive notices under section 11 of RTI Act 2005. I am an Indian citizen.

Signature of examinee:

Thanks to RTI, students can now access their answer sheets.

 

Upholding the Calcutta High Court’s decision to allow students to see their answer sheets, the Supreme Court allows candidates of all examination to access answer sheets through RTI.

The Supreme Court’s judgment would now allow the students to access their answer sheets under RTI Act. The Supreme Court said that examination conducting agencies have no fiduciary capacity and hence they can’t restrict students from seeing their answer sheets. Student can access answer sheets through RTI.

Now all Students can view their Answer Sheet including professionals: Supreme Court

In a landmark judgement which would be thanked by the Student Fraternity across India, Supreme Court on 9 th August 2011 has announced that any Student aggrieved by the marks awarded to him/her in the Exams can now make an application and have a look at how the marks have been awarded. All Students irrespective of whether in School, College or pursuing Professional Qualification like CA/IAS/MBA can now file an application under RTI and the Institute conducting the Exams would be under an obligation to reveal to the Student his answer sheet and the manner in which he has been awarded marks.

Even Students appearing for Class X and Class XII Boards would now be able to view their answer sheets as Supreme Court has now ordered for disclosure of Answer Sheets for those students making an application under the RTI Act.

Passing the path-breaking order that will be lapped up by students, but may cause consternation among the teaching fraternity, a bench of Justices R V Raveendran and A K Patnaik dismissed a bunch of appeals filed by the Central Board of Secondary Education, West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), University of Calcutta, West Bengal Central School Services Commission and Assam Public Services Commission who had challenged the Judgement of the High Court. The petitioners had challenged rulings by different information commissioners under the RTI Act directing them to show the answer-sheets to the students.

The basic contention of all these education boards, Calcutta University and ICAI was that there was a fiduciary relationship between the examiner and the board, and hence it was not proper to show the answer-sheet to the student. CBSE had claimed exemption from the ambit of RTI Act. The Supreme Court held that evaluated answer-sheets were covered under the definition of information under the RTI Act, 2005 and reiterated the duty of the public authority to allow maximum disclosure as envisaged by the RTI.

Explaining the scope of the fiduciary relationship of the agency holding the examination, the Bench held that bodies conducting examinations could not retain evaluated answer sheets in any fiduciary capacity and contend that they would not disclose the same. Welcoming the judgment, the National Campaign for Peoples Right to Information, said: The NCPRI believes this ruling would positively affect the transparency rights of lakhs of students of all kinds across the country including examinations conducted by school boards, universities and public service commissions CAT 2011.The move will help make the education system more transparent and administrators more accountable, said Sobha Mishra, head of education at industry lobby Ficci. If someone sat for an exam, he should not be denied the right to see his answer paper once the result is out.

No institute or exam-conducting body should ever resist such disclosure, she said. The verdict will benefit lakhs of students appearing for various examinations, including CA Exams conducted by the ICAI, as it gives a student the right to inspect answer-sheets by just applying to the relevant university, council, board or commission.

Rooj was a student of mathematics in the Presidency College.

In 2006, when he sat for the first part of degree examination he secured 52 percent marks. In the second year he got 208 out of 400 marks and got just 28 marks out of 100 in the fifth paper. Upon seeking re-evaluation, his marks increased by four in the fifth paper. He contended that his poor marks stood in the way of his getting admission in post-graduation course and applied to inspect his mark sheet under the RTI law which was rejected.

The university said that the answer sheets of examinees cannot be shared. He then approached the High Court and the High Court announced in the favour the Student. Calcutta University challenged the order of the High Court and approached the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court on 9 th August 2011 upheld the judgement of the high court and ordered Answer sheets to be disclosed under RTI