No arbitrary fees for obtaining answer sheets via RTI? CIC reminds CBSE of the rules..
CBSE Board Exam: The Central Information Commission (CIC) has issued a significant directive regarding CBSE board exam answer sheets. The Commission has instructed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) that if a student requests a copy of their answer sheet under the RTI Act, the photocopying fee charged must strictly adhere to the rules prescribed in the RTI Rules, 2012. Additionally, the CIC has recommended that CBSE amend its circular dated May 19, 2025. That circular stated that if a candidate obtained a copy of their answer book under the RTI Act, they could not subsequently seek verification or re-evaluation based on that same copy. Objecting to this restriction, the CIC stated that such a ban is not in line with the spirit of transparency laws.
The matter originated from a Class 10 student's RTI application.
This matter reached the CIC following an RTI application filed by a Class 10 CBSE board exam candidate. The student had requested a photocopy of their board exam answer sheet under the RTI Act. In the application, the student cited the high fees associated with the standard re-evaluation process. Furthermore, the student raised questions regarding the difficulty level of the Class 10 Mathematics Standard (Set-3) paper, the implementation of the board's moderation policy, and the deduction of marks in their answer sheet.
Fee of ₹2,500 for answer sheets of five subjects
According to the student, a sum of ₹2,500 was demanded for photocopies of answer sheets across five subjects. Additionally, there was a fee of ₹2,500 for re-verification, while the fee for re-evaluation was set at ₹100 per question. Consequently, the student's total expenditure across these various processes could potentially have reached ₹10,000. Given this high cost, the student had requested CBSE to provide photocopies of their answer sheets under the RTI Act.
CBSE Sent Answer Book via Email
In this matter, the CBSE's Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) responded to the student on July 2, 2025. The CPIO stated that the requested answer book had been sent via email after the prescribed fee was received. Subsequently, the student filed a first appeal regarding the matter. In the appeal, the student raised questions concerning blank pages in the answer book, the mathematics moderation policy, and the evaluation of their answer sheet. However, the First Appellate Authority noted that these issues differed from the questions asked in the student's original RTI application; therefore, clarifications and analytical responses were sought regarding these specific matters.
What Did the CPIO Say During the Hearing?
During the hearing before the CIC, the CBSE CPIO stated that the answer sheet had been made available to the student. The prescribed photocopying fee, in accordance with the RTI Rules 2012, had been charged for this service. The CPIO also cited a CBSE circular dated May 19, 2025. While this circular permits candidates to obtain copies of their answer books under the RTI Act, it also stipulates that once an answer book is obtained via RTI, a request for verification or re-evaluation cannot be made within the RTI framework.
CIC Displeased with the Ban on Re-evaluation
The CIC objected to this provision by the CBSE. The Commission held that denying a student the facility of re-evaluation simply because they obtained a copy of their answer sheet under the RTI Act violates the spirit of the RTI law and its rules. In other words, according to the Commission, obtaining a copy of an answer sheet via RTI and utilizing re-evaluation or other measures available under the institution's own rules should not be mutually exclusive or conflict with one another.
CBSE Cannot Impose Fees and Conditions Contrary to RTI
The CIC also clarified that the CBSE cannot rely on other rules or regulations to impose fees or conditions that are inconsistent with the provisions of the RTI Act. The Commission also cited Section 22 of the RTI Act in this context. Under this section, the RTI Act takes precedence over other laws or legal provisions that are inconsistent with it. This means that if a condition in any other rule or regulation conflicts with the provisions of the RTI Act, the latter will prevail.
**Reference to Supreme Court Judgment**
In its order, the CIC also cited the Supreme Court's judgment dated April 11, 2019, in the *ICSI vs. Paras Jain* case. That judgment held that the remedies available under an institution's own rules and those available under the RTI Act are neither mutually exclusive nor contradictory; in other words, a person cannot be denied the remedy available under one system simply because they have exercised a right available under the other. The CIC considered this principle significant in the present case as well.
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