TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (10) TMI 1749
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....umstances as narrated in the writ petition, are that the petitioner is an institution established under the provisions of Article 315 of the Constitution of India to conduct examinations for appointment of persons to various services of the State of Manipur. The MPSC conducted the MCSCC Examination, 2016 for recruitment to 82 posts of various categories like MCS Grade-II, MPS Grade-II, SDC, MSS/ Section Officers, Election Officer, etc. and after the result thereof being declared, 82 persons had been given appointment orders by the State Government. [3.2] The respondent No.2 submitted an application dated 14-06-2017 under the provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as "the RTI Act") to the SPIO/ MPSC praying for furnishing scanned copies of the answer sheets along with the marks allotted to the eighty-two selected candidates in the said examination and to provide the mark tabulation sheets of all the candidates who appeared in the said examination. In reply to the said application, the SPIO/ MPSC informed the respondent No.2 that the information sought for by her, being a third party information, cannot be divulged as per Section 11 of the RTI Ac....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ttee appointed by this court, the learned Commission has come to the conclusion that the public interest in disclosure outweighs the need for protection of personal information and public interest justifies disclosure of the information as per Section 8 (2) of the RTI Act. Accordingly, the Commission directed the SPIO/ MPSC to furnish the information. Being aggrieved by the said order dated 10-08-2018, the instant writ petition has been filed by the petitioner. [6] The RTI Act was enacted by the Parliament and as seen from the statement of Objects and Reasons, the purpose for which it was enacted, was to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities and to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority. In the words of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, the RTI Act was enacted to ensure smoother, greater and more effective access to information and to provide an effective framework for effectuating the right to information recognised under the Article 19 of the Constitution. Section 3 provides that all the citizens have the right to information he....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....o reduce the same in writing. (2) An applicant making request for information shall not be required to give any reason for requesting the information or any other personal details except those that may be necessary for contacting him. (3) Where an application is made to a public authority requesting for an information,- (i) which is held by another public authority; or (ii) the subject matter of which is more closely connected with the functions of another public authority, the public authority, to which such application is made. shall transfer the application or such part of it as may be appropriate to that other public authority and inform the applicant immediately about such transfer: Provided that the transfer of an application pursuant to this sub-section shall be made as soon as practicable but in no case later than five days from the date of receipt of the application. Section 8. Exemption from disclosure of information. - (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen; (a) information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty an....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ot be denied to any person. (2) Notwithstanding anything in the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (19 of 1923) nor any of the exemptions permissible in accordance with sub-section (/), a public authority may allow access to information, if public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to the protected interests. (3) Subject to the provisions of clauses (a), (c) and (i) of sub-section (/), any information relating to any occurrence, event or matter which has taken place, occurred or happened twenty years before the date on which any request is made under section 6 shall be provided to any person making a request under that section: Provided that where any question arises as to the date from which the said period of twenty years has to be computed, the decision of the Central Government shall be final, subject to the usual appeals provided for in this Act. Section 11. Third party information.-(1) Where a Central Public Information Officer or a State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, intends to disclose any information or record, or part thereof on a request made under this Act, which relates to or has been supplied by a third party and ha....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... for consideration by this court, is as to whether the respondent No.2 is entitled to seek certified copies of the evaluated answer sheets/ scripts of the said selected candidates. It has been submitted by Shri M. Hemchandra, the learned Senior Advocate appearing for the petitioner that the Commission while considering the said appeal has failed to give opportunity of being heard to the 82 recommended candidates which is mandatory under Section 19(4) of the RTI Act, 2005 and therefore, the said order dated 10-08-2018 passed by it needs to be renewed; that the compliance of the said order dated 10-08-2018 may give rise to various legal complicacies as the procedure to be followed by the petitioner is not specifically directed in the said order; that the Commissioner has failed to see that before a Third Party Information is furnished, the procedure as laid down under section 11(1) and 19(4) is to be followed. In support of his contention, he has relied upon the decisions rendered by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Prashant Ramesh Chakkarwar vs. UPSC & ors., (2013) 12 SCC 489; R.K. Jain Vs. Union of India & anr., (2013) 14 SCC 794 and UPSC & ors. Vs. Angesh Kumar & ors. (2018) 4 SCC 530....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... certified copies thereof? (ii) Whether the decision of this Court in Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education and other cases referred to above, in any way affect or interfere with the right of an examinee seeking inspection of his answer books or seeking certified copies thereof? (iii) Whether an examining body hold the evaluated answer books "in a fiduciary relationship" and consequently has no obligation to give inspection of the evaluated answer books under Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act? (iv) If the examinee is entitled to inspection of the evaluated answer books or seek certified copies thereof, whether such right is subject to any limitations, conditions or safeguards? The Hon'ble Supreme Court after examining the objects sought to be achieved by the RTI Act, held that the evaluated answer book is an information under the RTI Act and every examinee will have the right to access his evaluated answer books, by either inspecting them or to take certified copies thereof, unless the evaluated answer books are found to the exempted under Section 8 (1)(e) of the RTI At. The decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Maharastra....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... their instrumentalities accountable to the citizens, by providing them access to information regarding functioning of every public authority. 27. The examining bodies contend that the evaluated answer books are exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act, as they are "information" 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 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(1)(e) of the RTI Act. 41. In a philosophical and very wide sense, examining bodies can be said to act in a fiduciary capacity, with reference to the students who participate in an examination, as a Government does while governing its citizens or as the present generation does with reference to the future generation while preserving the environment. But the words "information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship" are used in Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act in its normal and well-recognised sense,....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....enumerated in Sections 4(1)(b) and (c) of the Act], equal importance and emphasis are given to other public interests (like confidentiality of sensitive information, fidelity and fiduciary relationships, efficient operation of Governments, etc." In Prashant Ramesh Chakkarwar Case (supra), when the appellant did not succeed in the civil services (main) examination, 2008, he sought for information like production of all records including attendance sheet, raw and moderated marks etc., by invoking the provisions of the Right to Information Act which was turned down by the Tribunal holding that the principle of moderation has been followed by the UPSC since 1949 and that the method cannot be faulted as subjective or unscientific. Being aggrieved by it, the appellant filed a writ petition before the Hon'ble High Court which was disposed of holding that the appellants are not entitled to relief because they had approached the Tribunal after a period of more than one year from the date of declaration of the result and the selected candidates had not been made parties. When the matter came up before the Hon'ble Supreme Court, it was of the view that the impugned order does not suffer fr....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....annot be treated as records pertaining to personal information of an employee and the High Court of Delhi in Arvind Kejriwal Vs. Central Public Information Officer wherein it has been held that for providing information relating to a third party, the procedure outlined under Section 11(1) cannot be dispensed with. The Hon'ble Supreme Court referring to its earlier decision rendered in Girish Ramchandra Deshpande vs. Central Information Commissioner wherein the performance of an employee/ officer in an organisation is primarily a matter between the employee and the employer and normally those aspects are governed by the service rules which fall under the expression "personal information", the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or public interest, held that as the appellant sought for inspection of the documents relating to the ACR of the Member, CESTAT, inter-alia, relating to adverse entries in the ACR and "follow-up action" taken therein on the question of integrity, there was no reason to interfere with the impugned order. In UPSC & ors. vs. Angesh Kumar case (supra), the respondents who were unsuccessful candidates in the Civil Service (Preliminary....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ning body for evaluation and declaration of the result, the answer book is a document or record. Such evaluated answer book is not being held by the examining body in its fiduciary relationship with reference to the examinee who participates in the examination and whose answer books are evaluated by the examining body. The examining body may simply subject the candidate to a process of verification by an examination, to find out whether such person is suitable for a particular post, job or assignment. An examining body, if it is a public authority entrusted with public functions, is required to act fairly, reasonably, uniformly and consistently for public good and in public interest. Therefore, every examinee will have the right to access his evaluated answer books, by either inspecting them or take certified thereof, unless the evaluated answer books are found to be exempted under Section 8 (1)(e) of the RTI Act. [10] Coming to the present case, an examination was conducted by the MPSC for appointment to various posts in the State of Manipur. There was an allegation against the MPSC for having committed many irregularities in the recruitment process. The matter was brought to t....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....o not belong to the candidates and are not being kept by the MPSC on their behalf. The MPSC is a public institution, and not a private institution, which is governed by rule of law. Such records maintained by the MPSC are public documents which can never be treated as confidential by the candidates at their choice and sweet will. There is no any provision under the RTI Act which empowers a candidate of an examination conducted by a Public Service Commission to treat his evaluated answer sheet/ script as confidential so as to attract the provisions of Section 11 of the RTI Act. The MPSC is under no obligation from the examinee to withhold such information from the citizen except under Section 8 of the RTI Act. In CBSE Vs. Aditya Bandopadhayay, the CBSE fairly conceded that the evaluated answer books will not come under any other exceptions in sub-section (1) of Section 8 but the contention that they are exempted from disclosure under Section 8 (1)(e) of the RTI Act, has been rejected by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. Therefore, the evaluated answer books do not fall under any of the exemptions provided under Section 8 of the RTI Act. In H.D Gupta Vs. Public information Officer, NCT o....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....sure thereof would cause unwarranted invasion of privacy of the individual under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act. This decision will not apply to the facts of the present case and since the evaluated answer sheets do not fall under any of the exemptions under Section 8(1) of the RTI Act, the same cannot be denied to the respondent No.2. Even in UPSC & ors. vs. Angesh Kumar case, it has been held by the Hon'ble Supreme Court that information sought for with regard to marks in Civil Services Exam cannot be directed to be furnished mechanically. Furnishing raw marks which will cause problems as pleaded by the UPSC, will not be in public interest. However, if a case is made out where the Court finds that public interest requires furnishing of information, the Court is certainly entitled to so require in a given fact situation. This is what has exactly been done by the Commission in the present case keeping in mind the public interest and in particular, the irregularities being found by the Committee constituted by this court in the recruitment process undertaken by the MPSC. [11] The other aspect which the learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner has emphasized, is that th....