CBSE Admits to Provide Copy of Answer Sheets at Rs. 2 Per Page; SC Disposes a Contempt Plea

On Monday, the Supreme Court disposed of a contempt plea against CBSE regarding the procurement of the answer sheet. Under the Right to Information Act, SC has asked the Central Board of Secondary Education to provide the answer sheets to the students in a cheaper amount. Thus, CBSE admits providing the answer sheet to the students at Rs. 2 per page.

There is a petition against CBSE that it charges Rs. 1000 or Rs. 1200 for giving the photocopy of the answer sheets. So, CBSE Chairperson Anita Karwal filed an affidavit and stated that she denies the allegation of receiving Rs. 1200 for the photocopy of the evaluated answer sheets. Thus, a Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph has taken a note of that affidavit stating that it would provide the photostat of the evaluated answer sheet at Rs. 2.

She further added that if the candidates seek the photocopy of their answer books under the provisions of RTI Act by submitting the application form by submitting the fee of Rs 10 then the board charges them Rs. 2 while obtaining the photocopy of the evaluated answer books.

CBSE also stated that the candidates who apply for the revaluation of the answer books and in addition they apply for the receipt of the photocopy of the answer sheets. In this case, the board charges them Rs. 700 but not Rs. 1200 as specified in the petition. The allegations are not applicable for any of the activity related to the receipt of the answer books.

The justice panel also dragged the CBSE Board to the court in 2016 in a case named as CBSE vs Aditya Bandopadhyay and others. The case referred to the right of inspecting the answer sheets under the Act RTI. In that case, the court disposed of the case by asking the CBSE board to follow the directions passed in Bandopadhyay’s case.

According to the board, it has also framed a separate application form for obtaining the photocopy of the answer sheets under the Act RTI will have to pay only Rs. 2 per page or above the fee described under the RTI.