Central Information Commission
Aniket Kumar Gupta vs Union Public Service Commission on 9 March, 2026
केन्द्रीय सूचना आयोग
Central Information Commission
बाबा गंगनाथ मागग,मुननरका
Baba Gangnath Marg, Munirka
नई निल्ली, New Delhi 110067
नितीय अपील संख्या / Second Appeal No. CIC/UPSCM/A/2025/617026
Aniket Kumar Gupta अपीलकताग/Appellant
VERSUS
बनाम
CPIO: Union Public Service
Commission, New Delhi प्रनतवािीगण/Respondents
Relevant dates emerging from the appeal:
RTI : 13.11.2024 FA : 14.12.2024 SA : 13.04.2025
CPIO : 12.12.2024 FAO : 11.01.2025 Hearing : 04.02.2026
Date of Interim Decision: 27.02.2026
CORAM:
_ANANDI RAMALINGAM
ORDER
1. The Appellant filed an RTI application dated 13.11.2024 seeking information on the following points:
1. Dear Sir/Madam, the following information is sought under the Right to Information Act, 2005: comparative data from the last 10 years of conduction of the Civil Services Examination (CSE), specifically a detailed annual breakdown of marks obtained by all recommended candidates in each General Studies (GS) paper, each optional subject paper, and the Personality Test per year till 2023.CIC/UPSCM/A/2025/617026 Page 1 of 9
Request is made to include the statistics as to how a particular optional paper has fared in terms of performance in marks in last 10 years since syllabus revamping of the CSE in 2014. Kindly note this comprehensive data needs to include breakup of Mains examination marks of all recommended candidates each year and highlight the highest marks in each papers of GS and otherwise including the Personality Test in each year. Please note that this RTI is filed solely in view of larger public interest of student to be furnished with reliable information pertaining to CSE to make appropriate decision regarding approaching the examination and it should, by no means be viewed as a violation of candidates privacy, especially since UPSC itself released each year marks of all recommended candidates on their website. However, breakup of Mains examination marks is not released which is also requested under this application. It is also submitted that this RTI application is made after a careful reading of the latest 73rd annual report released by UPSC and other such documents which do not contain the information & data sought in this RTI application. It is suggested that the data hence requested under this RTI, if compiled by the commission be provided in the form of a special report and may be published by the commission as a decadal report/analysis of data or otherwise at its discretion for wider public accessibility.
2. The CPIO replied vide letter dated 12.12.2024 and the same is reproduced as under :-
In this regard it is intimated that information sought is not available in compiled form. However, subject-wise marks of Written Examination & Personality Test of Civil Services (Main) Examination and total marks of recommended candidates from year 2014 to 2017 are available on website of DoP&T (cseplus.nic.in). Further, marks obtained by recommended candidates in Written Examination & CIC/UPSCM/A/2025/617026 Page 2 of 9 Personality Test of Civil Services (Main) Examination and total marks from year 2018 onwards are also available on website of DoP&T (cseplus.nic.in).
3. Dissatisfied with the response received from the CPIO, the Appellant filed a First Appeal dated 14.12.2024 alleging that the information provided was incomplete, false and misleading. The FAA vide order dated 11.01.2025 upheld the reply given by the CPIO.
4. Aggrieved with , the Appellant approached the Commission with the instant Second Appeal dated 13.04.2025.
Hearing Proceedings & Decision:
5. The appellant and on behalf of the respondent Dinesh Singh, Under Secretary, attended the hearing in-person.
6. The appellant inter alia submitted that the primary reason behind filing of the RTI application is that upto Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2017, UPSC used to publicly disclose the paper-wise marks obtained by recommended candidates in the Civil Services (Main) Examination, including marks in Essay and General Studies Papers I, II, III and IV as well as Optional Papers I & II. However, CSE- 2018 onwards, UPSC discontinued disclosure of paper-wise marks and instead published only aggregate marks of the Civil Services (Main) Examination, without providing any bifurcation of marks obtained in individual papers. The appellant pleaded that this change has substantially reduced transparency & adversely affected the right to information of civil services aspirants. Placing reliance on the involvement of public interest in the matter, the appellant prayed that the requisitioned information may be disclosed as per proviso to Section 8 (2) of the RTI Act. He relied upon his latest written submissions dated 02.02.2026 and the relevant portions thereof are reproduced as under:
1. The present RTI directly involves public interest as it affects thousands of UPSC aspirants nationwide. By withholding paper-wise marks after CSE-2017, CIC/UPSCM/A/2025/617026 Page 3 of 9 UPSC has created a vacuum of information, preventing aspirants from making informed decisions about optional subjects in a high-stakes national exam.
2. The main problem that this lack of transparency creates is that it provides the various coaching institutes a sizeable opportunity to exploit potential aspirants.
Several coaching centres resort to false, exaggerated and unverifiable advertisements misleading students into believing that candidates taught by them have secured the highest scores in particular optional subjects. Particularly affected are those students from remote or disadvantaged backgrounds who are compelled to rely on such claims and lured into making ill informed choices due to non-availability of officially released data by UPSC. (Relevant annexures enclosed.) example reflective of the predicament faced by large number of aspirants. Say an aspirant has comparable interests in two Optional Papers offered by UPSC to be opted for CSE, such as Mathematics (being the graduation subject) and History (one of the common course offerings by the coaching institutes). Since, there exists no official public data reflecting performance of these subjects vis-àvis marks after 2017, the aspirant is forced to rely on the coaching institutes and often persuaded
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promotion by the coaching to sell its courses rather than on basis of verified performance trends.
4. The aforesaid lack of transparency has led to an artificial classification of optional subjects into so-
such as Mathematics having historically yielded high scores, as reflected in testimonials and self-released mark sheets of successful candidates, aspirants with CIC/UPSCM/A/2025/617026 Page 4 of 9 a genuine academic background and interest in such subjects hesitate to opt for them due to misleading narratives promoted by coaching institutes. Whereas subjects such as History, Political Science, Sociology, and Anthropology are
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trends, but largely due to the availability of coaching courses and commercial promotions. In the absence of official subject-wise disclosure of marks by UPSC, this distortion is likely to persist and further intensify.
5. Further, at present, aspirants have no official means of ascertaining which optional subjects have been opted for by candidates included in the list of recommended candidates, unless such information is voluntarily disclosed by individual candidates. 6. Therefore, in a national examination as significant as the Civil Services Examination, which selects the highest echelons of the bureaucracy in India and for which countless individuals from all sections of society dedicate years of their lives to prepare, the highest level of transparency is absolutely essential from the conducting body- UPSC here, to ensure that no section of the society is placed at a disadvantage and that the trust of the aspirants and all public stakeholders is duly upheld. Only with such disclosure can the aspirants avoid being left at the mercy of coaching institutes and their propaganda. The present RTI has thus been filed with the objective of serving larger public interest by promoting transparency and accountability by way of seeking the information essential to free aspirants from the shackles of misinformation and the exploitative
7. The respondent while defending their case inter alia reiterated their initial reply dated 12.12.2024 and endorsed their latest written submissions dated 30.01.2026, which are taken on record and are extracted below:
CIC/UPSCM/A/2025/617026 Page 5 of 913.01.2026 (received in this Commission on 16.01.2026) in respect of the second appeal filed by Shri Aniket Kumar Gupta on the above mentioned subject.
2. In this regard, it is submitted that Aniket Kumar Gupta vide an online RTI application (Reg. No. UPSCM/R/E/24/05726, dated 13.11.2024) under RTI Act, 2005sought information regarding detailed marks of all recommended candidates of Civil Services Examination up to year 2023. In response of which, the appellant was replied vide letter dated 12.12.2024 as under:
"It is intimated that information sought is not available in compiled form. However, subject-wise marks of Written Examination & Personality Test of Civil Services (Main) Examination and total marks of recommended candidates from year 2014 to 2017 are available on website of DoP&T (cseplus.nic.in). Further, marks obtained by recommended candidates in Written Examination & Personality Test of Civil Services (Main) Examination and total marks from year 2018 onwards are also available on website of DoP&T (cseplus.nic.in).
3. Aggrieved with the aforesaid reply, the appellant had preferred first appeal (Reg. No. UPSCM/A/E/24/00649, dated 14.12.2024), under the RTI Act, 2005. In response of which the First Appellate Authority in his decision dated 11.01.2025 upheld the reply given by the CPIO.
4. Now, the appellant has preferred second appeal thereby stating that the Commission has discontinued the practice of releasing the bifurcation of recommended candidates' marks in the Civil Services Examinations, 2018 onwards and prayed before CIC to instruct the CPIO (UPSC) to provide subject- wise marks of candidates in respect of CSE-2018 to CSE-2023 and to follow the same practice in future Examination(s)/public releases.
5. In this regard, it is submitted that the Union Public Service Commission CIC/UPSCM/A/2025/617026 Page 6 of 9 (UPSC) is a Constitutional Body setup under Article 315-323, Chapter-II, Part XIV of the Constitution of India. The UPSC, being a Constitutional body, has been conferred with powers under the Constitution of India to make rules and regulations to carry out its objectives in a just, fair and equitable manner. These systems and procedures have also been upheld by the Hon'ble Courts time to time. As per the policy and practice followed by the Commission, the detailed (subject- wise) marks of the candidates are treated as the information personal to them and therefore, the Commission does not disclose the subject-wise marks of the candidates in public domain as well as to any third party, except the Govt./DoP&T. The same has been followed by the Commission at various occasions while furnishing/informing such information to various RTI applicants.
A copy of such reply is enclosed herewith for ready reference. The Commission discloses only the written total, PT/interview marks and final total of the recommended candidates in public domain at its website (viz. http://upsc.gov.in) in order to maintain the transparency in recruitment process. However, in the instant matter, keeping the spirit of the RTI Act, 2005, the requisite information, as was available with the then CPIO, was furnished to the appellant vide letter of even No. dt. 12.12.2024.
6. So far as dis-continuation of practice of publishing the subject-wise marks by UPSC at the website (cseplus.nic.in) is concerned, it is submitted that the appellant is misleading the CIC through such claim. It may be noticed that the said website/weblink (viz. cseplus.nic.in) is under the domain/control of the DoP&T/Govt. and the CPIO (UPSC) is not responsible for the data/information available thereupon or published by the DoP&T at their website. The CPIO (UPSC) just referred the said data/information available at website of DoP&T in his reply, keeping the spirit of the RTI Act to provide the information as is CIC/UPSCM/A/2025/617026 Page 7 of 9 available with him/her and keeping in view the easiness for appellant to find the requisite information available at one place in consolidated manner.
7. In addition to the above, it is also submitted that one of the reason cited by the applicant seeking such data as to see how a particular optional paper has fared in terms of performance in marks in last 10 years since syllabus revamping of the CSE in 2014. In this connection, it is stated that distribution of candidates who appeared vis-à-vis recommended by optional subjects has been a part of the Annual Reports published by this Commission which is already available in public domain on its website (www.upsc.gov.in). A comparative analysis of success rate vis-à-vis optional subjects can be drawn from the information available in the Annual Reports.
8. From the above, it is obvious that the information provided to the appellant was to the extent as per the information/facts available with the then CPIO. The appeal filed by the appellant is devoid of merit and it is a consequence of mis-information / mis-conception regarding publication of the subject wise marks of the candidates
8. The Commission after adverting to the facts and circumstances of the case, hearing both parties and perusal of records, observes that the respondent clarified that practice of publishing subject-wise marks in Civil Services Examination concerns DoPT and CPIO, UPSC, is not responsible for the data/information available thereupon or published by the DoP&T at their website. Considering that the subject-matter of the RTI application concerns publication of results by DoPT, the Commission deems it necessary to implead CPIO, DoPT, as a party in the instant appeal for efficacious adjudication of the matter.
In view of the above, the Registry of this Bench is directed to send fresh hearing notices in the matter to the parties impleaded presently as well as to CPIO, DoPT, duly informing the next date of hearing. The CPIO, DoPT is directed to submit detailed CIC/UPSCM/A/2025/617026 Page 8 of 9 written submissions before the next date of hearing as to why the Commission shall not recommend reinstating the practice of publication of bifurcation of recommended candidates' marks in the Civil Services Examinations; the CPIO shall serve a copy of the said written submissions to all the parties to the instant second appeal before 7 days from the date of next hearing, to be intimated through fresh hearing notice(s).
Accordingly, the final decision in the appeal is reserved and the matter is adjourned.
Copy of the decision be provided free of cost to the parties.
Sd/-
(Anandi Ramalingam) ( Information Commissioner निनां क/Date: 27.02.2026 Authenticated true copy O. P. Pokhriyal (ओ पी पोखररयाल Dy. Registrar उप पंजीयक) 011-26180514 Addresses of the parties:
1. The CPIO, Union Public Service Commission, Dholpur House, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi 110069
2. Aniket Kumar Gupta CIC/UPSCM/A/2025/617026 Page 9 of 9 Recomendation(s) to PA under section 25(5) of the RTI Act, 2005:-
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