In welcome news for those studying at colleges under the Delhi Unversity, students will no longer be required to pay revaluation fees to get their copies checked for errors in marking. Yes! You read that right. In a major relief for DU students, the Delhi High Court refused to stay the ‘inspection under RTI’ petition and said that it will thoroughly examine the legal validity of the order by the Central Information Commission (CIC) that allowed the inspection of the answer sheets under the Right to Information (RTI). This is a welcome news for all those students who chose RTI to get their copes revaluated instead of paying the fees for the same to the varsity, according to a Times of India report.
According to the Delhi High Court’s order, it has not stayed the disputed CIC order dated June 18, 2018 and further said that the inspection of the evaluated answer sheets shall be provided to the students as directed. The HC in its order further said that it will question the right of students to seek the inspection of his/her answer sheet on a later date. The next hearing in the matter is set to take place on January 30, 2019.
The whole dispute started two years back in 2016, after a Delhi University’s former Law student had sought the inspection of his evaluated answer sheet through RTI. While the matter dragged on for two years, the student was forced to approach the CIC for the same. The commission then decided in favour of the student and ordered the University of Delhi to allow him the inspection of the answer sheets as it is prescribed under Right of Information Acts’ Section 2(j)- “larger public interest”.
Meanwhile, an earlier RTI in the month of September revealed that the Delhi University earned over Rs 3 crore in fees that were paid by its students for the revaluation of answer sheets and even for providing the photocopies of their answer sheets between 2015-16 and 2017-18. According to the data provided in an IANS report, the varsity had revealed that it had earned Rs 2,89,12,310 for revaluation alone between 2015-16 and 2017-18. It further said that during the same period it had earned Rs 23,29,500 for rechecking and Rs 6,49,500 for the photocopies of the evaluated answer sheets.