Through: Mr. Naresh Kaushik, Adv v. MADHULIKA KUMAR!

2. Feeling aggrieved from the response of the CPIO, the respcndent preferred an appeal which came to be dismissed vide order dated 3.9.2012. The respondent thereupon approached the Central Information Commission (hereinafter referred to as the Commission), by way of a second appeaL Vide order dated 28.5.2012, the Commission directed the CPIO to provide attested copies of the evaluated answer-sheets to the respondent within teL (1 0) WP.(C) No.766912013 Pag:: 1 of[4] \ working days, along with answer key. Being aggrieved of the aforesaid oder, the petitioner- UPSC is before this Court.

3. The question whether copy of answer sheet can be accessed under Right to Information Act or not, came to be considered by this Court in £qfhi Subordinate Services Selection Board versus Pushpendra Singh, W.P(C) No.4048/2012, decided on22.7.2013 and relying upon the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Central Board of Secondary Education and Another vs. Aditya Bandopadhyay and Others (2011) 8 Supreme Court C2ses 497, the writ petition was disposed ofwith direction that if the answer sheet is available, a copy thereof shall be provided to the respondent in the said writ petition. In Aditya Bandopadhyay and Others (supra), the Apex Court,:·:1ter alia, held as under: "'26. The examining bodies (Universities, Examination Boards, CBSE etc.) are neither security nor intelligence organizations and therefore the exemption under Section 24 will not apply to them. The disclosure of information with reference to answer-books does not also involve infringement of any copyright and therefore Section 9 will not apply. Resultantly, unless the examining bodies are able to demonstrate that the evaluated answer-books fall under any of the. categories of exempted 'information' enumerated in Clauses (a) to G) of Sub-section (1) Section 8, they will be bound to provide access to the information and any. applicant can either inspect the document/record, take notes, extracts or obtain certified copies thereof.

27. The examining bodies contend that the evaluated answer-books are exempte<Il from disclosure under Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act, as they are 'infonnation' held in its fiduciary relationship. They fairly conceded that evaluated answer-books will not fall under any other exemptions in Sub-section (1) of Section 8. Every W.P.(C) No.7669/2013 Pag:l 2 of.d. '/.-/' examinee will have the right to access his evaluated answer-books, by either inspecting them or take certified copies thereof, unless the evaluated answer-books are found to be exempted under Section 8(l)(e) ofthe RTI Act."

4. Dealing with the contention that the rules and regulations of the examining body may bar inspection of the answer sheet, the Apex Court held as under:-

W.P.(C) No.7669/2013 C) ) Page 3 of[4] Section 8(1)(e) is not available to the examining bodies with reference to evaluated answer-books. As no other exemption under Section 8 is available in respect of evaluated answer books, the examining bodies will have to permit inspection sought by the examinees."\

4. It would thus be seen that in the aforesaid decision, the Hon'ble Supreme Court upheld the right ofthe examinee to have the inspection as well as copy of his answer-book, even if the rules and regulations ofthe examining body prohibits such inspection and/or copy. In view of the authorita·c1ve pronouncements of the Apex Court, no fault can be found with the directi~:ms given by the Commission to the petitioner.

5. As regards provisions of section 8(l)(d) of RTI Act, reli~nce thereupon, in my view, is wholly misplaced. The aforesaid clause exempts from disclosure, only such information, disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party and includes commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property. However, no such issue comes up in disclosing the answer sheet of the examinee to none other than the examinee himself. For the reasons stated hereinabove, I find no merit in the petitiorc and t \ the same is hereby dismissed. All pending CMs also stand disposed of. ~//~ ~ There shall be no orders as to costs.

DECEMBER 06, 2013/rd V.K. JAIN, J.