RTI breaks 150 years tradition of CU

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, January 16, 2007

The Right to Information (RTI) Act has moved mountains. The Calcutta University (CU) syndicate on Tuesday decided, for the first time in 150 years, to let a student take a look at his answers script.
B.Com Part II candidate Utsav Dutta, who got less than 40 per cent in a paper but thought he deserved more and demanded to see his script, will be granted his wish at the intervention of the state right to information (RTI) commission. However, the university has clarified that this will be a one-off case and will not qualify as a precedent.
Usatav had moved the Calcutta High Court after CU turned down his appeal to see the script. The court forwarded his case to the RTI commission, which heard both parties and then directed the university to show Utsav his script within a month.
“The university statute does not allow anybody to secure a review of his answers script if he scores below 40 per cent. Candidates are never allowed to take a look at their scripts. But the syndicate today decided to act as per the state RTI commission’s orders. The syndicate, however, has made it clear that exemption is being allowed only in this case,” CU registrar Samir Bandhapadhyay said.
RTI commissioner Arun Bhattacharya said while the candidate would be allowed to see his answers script the university would follow its own review and re-examination guidelines. “The examinee has the right to inspect his answers script. You cannot deny him this right. I am happy that the university has accepted this decision,” he said.
CU has never allowed students to take a look at their answers scripts. An aggrieved candidate’s options have been limited so far to applying for a review and appealing to the pro-vice Chancellor (academic) to let the principal of his college to take a look at his answer script
Universities usually refuse to let candidates inspect their answer scripts because it might violate the Copy Right Act and reveal examiners’ identities. The RTI commissioner’s order says that examiners’ identities, like that of examinees, should be concealed while answer scripts are inspected.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com