Provide answer script to student, info panel to Madurai Kamarajar University

Chennai: The State Information Commission came to the help of a distance education student who was denied a copy of his answer sheets by the Madurai Kamarajar University despite him filing an RTI petition.

In an order passed in February this year, information commissioner Christopher Nelson IPS (retd) directed MKU to supply the answer sheets as requested by the appellant Deshmukh Naved Masood Khan, a resident of Thane in Maharashtra. Nelson also demanded an explanation from the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the university as to why disciplinary action should not be recommended for failure to furnish the information. The document was also to be supplied free of cost to the appellant, Nelson ruled.

Khan had sought a copy of his answer paper for the MSc Mathematics , which he had taken in April 2014. In reply, the PIO enclosed a copy of the letter from the additional controller of examinations, saying that the answer scripts could be demanded only within 15 days from the date of publication of the results.

During inquiry by the SIC, the PIO was asked to clarify if any instructions regarding the 15-day rule had been given by the university. The PIO presented the prospectus where there was no such instruction.