A three-judge bench consisting of Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Naveen Sinha and K M Joseph today, September 10, 2018, sought a reply from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on a petition filed by advocates Kumar Shanu and Paras Jain seeking contempt proceedings against the board for willfully violating the Supreme Court’s order August 16, 2016 wherein Court had directed the board to scrupulously follow the directions of the Supreme Court’s order in Aditya Bandopadhyay case and Rules framed under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi of the Supreme Court issues contempt notice to the CBSE for charging exorbitant fee of Rs.1200/- per subject for providing answers scripts of board examinations thereby violating rules under RTI Act and SC's order? directing to follow rules. pic.twitter.com/poQ7eAh9G1
— The Leaflet (@TheLeaflet_in) September 10, 2018
In Aditya Bandopadhyay case, Supreme Court had held that that answer scripts of board examinations written by the students are subject to disclosure under the RTI Act, 2005. However, CBSE has been frustrating the students’ right the access to answer sheets by charging exorbitant fee of Rs. 1200 for obtaining the copies of board examinations which is in contravention to the RTI Act, and Rules framed thereunder that provides for only Rs.2/- page for accessing the information. Moreover, this also goes against the order dated August 16, 2016 of the Supreme Court whereby Court had directed the Board to observe RTI rules scrupulously.
Paras Jain and Kumar Shanu, Petitioners
Advocate Prashant Bhushan assisted by lawyer Pranav Sachdeva appeared for the petitioners. Contempt petition is directed to be listed after six weeks by the Court. By that time, Board has to come up with its explanation for breaching the order of the Court.
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