Part-3-All good things come to an end in the Supreme Court of India-Answer Sheets RTI - case.

Part-3-All good things come to an end in the Supreme Court of India-Answer Sheets RTI - case.
Kanpur-23-May-2009
For years during my Research on various topics including the Town Planning Laws of India, I have noted that it is on rare occasions possible for the general public of India to get a few orders from the High Courts, which go a long way in addressing the problems of the teeming masses but All such good things come to an end in the Supreme Court of India, which more often than not stays the Order of the High Court arbitrarily then keeps on sitting on the Petition for years, often decades altogether, resulting in denial of the Relief to the general public, which the High Court took pains to provide. I shall be discussing a few cases periodically, Some cases I am detailing below:-

1. After the passage of the Right to Information Act-2005, all public documents, other than those for which specific exemptions have been provided in Section-8 of that Act were to be disclosed. The Public Authorities to cover up their Corruption, have been opposing the RTI applicants on one baseless ground or another resulting in the matters reaching the Courts.
2. Lots of students filed RTI applications seeking certified photocopies of their Answer sheets, the Applications were opposed by Central Board of Secondary Education, Various State Boards and Universities, However in the matter of Pritam Rooj v/s University of Calcutta, the Calcutta High Court single Judge on 28-03-2008 as reported in AIR 2008, Calcutta-118, ruled that the Answer sheets were not exempted and should be disclosed. The matter was taken in Appeal to the Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court, which, on 05-02-2009 in M.A.T No.275 of 2008,University of Calcutta vs Pritam Rooj; Writ Petition No.18189(W) of 2008, Aditya Bandopadyay V/S Central Board of secondary Education and W.P No.208 of 2008;W.P. No.5302(W) of 2008; W.P.No.57423(W) of 2008, W.P.No.5744(W) of 2008, in all of which West Bengal Secondary Education Board was a party, ruled that :- “A few words before we conclude our discussion on the second issue supra. We would not be unjustified in taking judicial notice of the Courts of Writ nowadays being flooded with innumerable cases filed by aggrieved parties - particularly students of schools, colleges, universities and other academic institutions, as also participants of various selection examinations conducted by the appropriate bodies for recruitment to public service alleging wrong, improper or unfair marking and gross negligence in the assessment of their written performances which, according to them, ultimately hamper their academic and career progress substantially. Since marginal difference in marks decides placement of candidates in the merit list, the anxiety of the examinees/candidates can well be appreciated. However, success rate of such petitions is not very high considering the fact that the aggrieved parties often fail to demonstrate before the Court as to how the assessment is defective or arbitrary. Yet, situations are not rare where various Courts have called for production of the answer scripts of aggrieved examinees and detected mistakes, at times glaring, in assessment of such scripts or non-awarding of marks
commensurate with the assessment made. Though the Courts in appropriate cases have passed orders for re-examination and scrutiny which have resulted in the aggrieved party being awarded his dues, it is often seen that the said relief has come at a time when their losses are beyond repair - a valuable year has been lost or an employment opportunity sorely missed in these fiercely competitive times thereby resulting in untold misery and harassment to them. The RTI Act, therefore, in our considered opinion would act as a buffer to such incidents in future and will help aggrieved parties to get their rightfully deserved relief. It also hopefully will act as a warning for errant examiners and assessors to perform their duties more diligently.
Before parting, we rule that the observation of the learned Judge that the proviso at the foot of clause (j) of Section 8(1) is a proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 8 is not the correct exposition of law and while holding it to be obiter dictum, we would respectfully agree with the decision of the Bombay High Court reported in AIR 2007 Bom 121 : Surupsingh Hrya Naik vs. State of Maharashtra in this regard.
The judgment and order under appeal does not call for interference. The orders impugned in the writ petitions filed by the WBBSE also do not call for any interference. The writ appeal of the University and the writ petitions filed by the WBBSE stand dismissed. The connected writ petition being W.P. No. 208 of 2008 filed by the father of the examinee stands allowed. Inspection shall be granted to the concerned examinees within four weeks from date of receipt of a copy of this judgment, if not already granted.The order of the CBSE dated 12.7.2008, impugned in W.P. No.18189 (W) of 2008, is set aside. The writ petition stands allowed within a direction upon the CBSE to grant inspection of the answer scripts to the information seekers/examinees concerned within four weeks from receipt of a copy of this judgment. Prayer made by the examinees for reevaluation of the scripts, however, stands refused. It shall be open to them seek relief in this behalf in appropriate proceedings, if initiated, after they have access to the assessed/examined answer scripts. Photostat copy of this judgment, duly countersigned by the Assistant Court
Officer, shall be retained with the records of W.P. No. 208 of 2008, W.P. No. 5743 (W) of 2008, W.P. No.5744 (W) of 2008, W.P. No.5302 (W) of 2008 and W.P.No.18189 (W) of 2008.
Urgent photostat certified copy of this judgment, if applied for, be
furnished to the applicant within 4 days from date of putting in requisites therefor.
I agree. (SURINDER SINGH NIJJAR, C.J.)
(DIPANKAR DATTA, J.)
48 Later :
Prayer for stay of operation of the order has been made by learned Counsel
for the University, the WBBSE and the CBSE. Such prayer is considered and
refused.
(SURINDER SINGH NIJJAR, C.J.)
(DIPANKAR DATTA, J.)”
3. However before the general public could reap the benefit of the judgment of the High Court, the Supreme Court, without understanding the gravity of its order has passed a strange Stay order in all the cases as below:- IT E M NO.36 COUR T NO.7 SECT I O N XV I

S UP R E M E CO U R T O F I N D I A
R ECO R D OF P R OC E E D I N G S
Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (Civil) No(s).7526/ 2009
(From the judgement and order dated 05/02 / 2 009 in W P No. 18189(W) / 2008 of
The H I G H COU RT OF CALCUTT A)
CENT R L A L BOA R D OF SEC.E D UC A T I O N & AN R. Petitioner(s)
VE R S U S
AD I T Y A BAN D O P A D H Y A Y & ORS. Respondent(s)
(With prayer for interim relief)

Date: 09/04 / 2 009 This Petition was called on for hearing today.

COR A M :
HON' B L E M R. JUST I C E R.V. RA V E E N D R A N
HON' B L E M R. JUST I C E H.L. DATTU

For Petitioner(s) Mr. Altaf Ahmed, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Tara Chandra Sharma,Adv.
Ms. Neelam Sharma, Adv.
For Respondent(s)
UPON hearing counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
Issue notice.
Interim stay of the impugned order in so far as it directs the petitioner to permit inspection of the answer scripts of candidates who were not the petitioners before the Court.
( Pawan Kumar ) ( Anand Singh )
Court Master Assistant Registrar
4. The Order of the Supreme Court is so confusing that thousands of RTI applicants/Students will be hit by it, the Boards will refuse the RTI applications and the students will have to go to the High Courts before they can get to see their Answer sheets. The Order of the High Court of Calcutta was so clear that it directed clearly “The writ petition stands allowed within a direction upon the CBSE to grant inspection of the answer scripts to the information seekers/examinees concerned within four weeks from receipt of a copy of this judgment.”
Therefore the Order of the High Court was clearly for the benefit of those Examinees, who had filed RTI Applications for disclosure/provision of Photocopies of their Answer Sheets and the same were pending in the Boards.
Therefore the benefit given to the students by the Calcutta High Court has been denied to the public by the arbitrary and Authoritarian stay order of the Supreme court and because the Respondents in the case are not hit by the case therefore they will not even file the replies in the Petitions so the case may drag on for decades in the Supreme Court and the important Question of Law decided by the High Court, so elaborately will be buried in the waste Paper Basket, that is the Supreme Court of India till the future RTI-applicant students, become grandparents themselves.
5. This article will be continued regarding other cases, where the Public interest benefic Judgments passed by the High Courts have come to an end in the Supreme Court of India and have been pending since ages.
Robby Sharma
865, Block-B, Panki Kanpur-208020
email—sharmarobby@hotmail.com
Mob-91-9415438326;9235844258.