Central Information Commission
Mr.Dr Chitra Shukla vs Ministry Of Agriculture on 5 January, 2011
Central Information Commission
Room No. 5, Club Building, Near Post Office
Old J.N.U. Campus, New Delhi - 110067
Tel No: 26161997
Case No. CIC/SS/A/2010/000541
Name of Appellant : Dr. Chitra Shukla
(The Appellant was not present)
Name of Respondent : Krishi Anusandhan Bhawan, Pusa, New Delhi
(Represented by Sh. N. S. Randhawa,
Secretary and Sh. Vinod Kumar, T.O.)
The matter was heard on : 14.12.2010
ORDER
Dr. Chitra Shukla, the Appellant, vide application dated 5.01.2010, sought the following information from the PIO: "a) Answer book of my paperII (descriptive paper)
b) Guidance/policy for the evaluation of each question.
c) Expected probable answer to each question, submitted by the paper setter/question setter."
The PIO, vide letter dated 15.01.2010, denied sought for information under Section 8(1)
(d) of the RTI Act. Aggrieved by the reply of the PIO, the Appellant filed an appeal before the First Appellate Authority (FAA). The FAA, vide decision dated 23.02.2010, upheld the reply to the PIO. Hence, the present appeal before the Commission.
During the hearing the Respondents submit that the sought for information involves the intellectual property of the institution and the same is exempted under section 8(1)(d) of the RTI Act, Sh. N. S. Randhawa, Secretary, ASRB in his written submission "The Board has been conducting this annual open All India Competitive Examination of ARS/NET at 33 centers across India including NorthEastern Region and Jammu and Kashmir. Since it is an open all India Examination involving substantial number of ClassI / Group 'A' level posts of scientists belonging to a well structured scientific cadre of ICAR, each year there is a massive response of candidates who appear in large numbers. For an example in the ARS/Net Examination, 2010 conducted by the Board on 19th September, 2010, out of the 28276 candidates who had applied, 21135 candidates had actually appeared all across India at 33 Centres competing for recruitment to 290 posts of ClassI scientists in the Agricultural Research Services of ICAR;
In view of the above, the ARS/NET examination conducted by the Board as an all India open competitive examination is by all standards a large scale examination conducted annually in accordance with the prescribed examination rules, syllabus, scheme and standard procedure by the ASRB which a national level reputed independent recruitment agency of ICAR constituted by the Government of India under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture."
In the full bench of the Commission in Case No. No. CIC/WB/C2006/00223; Appeal Nos. CIC/WB/A/2006/00469 & 00394; Appeal Nos. CIC/OK/A/2006/00266/00058/00066/00315 , Rakesh Kumar Singh & Ors vs. Lok Sabha Secretariat & Ors observes that the disclosure of the answer sheets by certain institutions "shall be the general rule but each case may have to be examined individually to see as to whether disclosure of evaluated answer sheets would render the system unworkable in practice".
After hearing the Respondent and on perusal of the relevant documents on file and keeping in view the full bench decision of the CIC, the Commission is of the view that though the sought for information is not exempted under Section 8(1)(d) of the RTI Act, but the same cannot be provided on the ground that sought for information i.e. answer book, relates to conduct of a large scale examination by the Respondents. However, the guidance/policy for the evaluation of question papers, if it exists in the records, cannot be withheld under the RTI Act. Regarding point No. C of the RTI application there cannot be expected probable answers of descriptive papers.
In view of the above the information on point no. A & C is not required to be furnished. However, the PIO is directed to provide the information on point No. B of the RTI application, if the same exists on record. The Commission's order may be complied within 15 days of its receipt.
(Sushma Singh) Information Commissioner 5.01.2011 Authenticated true copy (S. Padmanabha) Under Secretary & Dy. Registrar Copy to:
1. Dr. Chitra Shukla, 17/203, Sahyog Apartment, Sector24, Gandhinagar, Gujarat382024.
2. The Public Information Officer, Technical Officer, Krishi Anusandhan Bhawan, Pusa, New Delhi110012
3. The Appellate Authority, Secretary, Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board, Krishi Anusandhan Bhawan, Pusa, New Delhi110012