Students get right to see answersheets

Publication: Times of India Mumbai; Date: Feb 6, 2009; Section: Front Page; Page: 1
Satyabrata Das | TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: Allowing transparency in the evaluation system, the Calcutta high court on Thursday ruled that students had the right to see their answersheets and educational institutions should allow it.

The verdict came on an appeal by Calcutta University against a single bench’s order directing it to show a maths answersheet to Presidency College student Pritam Rooj after he had sought a re-evaluation. Under the current system, students who doubt the marking can seek a revaluation of their answersheets. But that is done by the examiner and students have to take the examiner’s word for it.

Giving its ruling, a division bench comprising Chief Justice S S Nijjar and Justice Dipankar Datta directed those concerned to act on all such pending applications and show the answersheets to aggrieved students within a month. The bench, however, also set a time limit for students to see their answersheets. ‘Statute gives pupils right to see scripts’

Kolkata: The Calcutta HC has ruled in favour of Presidency College student Pritam Rooj in his battle against the university to see his maths Paper V answersheet.

In the earlier single bench order, Justice Sanjib Banerjee had held that a student had the right to see his answer paper under Article 19 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression. The row began after Rooj, a second-year honours student, applied to Calcutta University seeking a review of his answersheet for Paper V. Rooj was upset with the poor marks (28) which he had got. The varsity undertook a review and gave him pass marks of 32.

Not satisfied, he approached the varsity again, urging it to point out his mistakes and allow him to see his answers under the RTI Act. The university had rejected his plea saying its rules did not permit it. University counsel Sambuddha Chakrabarty had argued that Rooj was not asking for any new information as he was aware of what he had written.