Now, varsity students can get answer sheets via RTI

In a major victory for students, the Mumbai University (MU) has agreed to provide photocopies of answer scripts to students following the Supreme Court (SC) judgement. It is a 2011 order which states that the University should provide answer sheets to students, if sought through Right to Information (RTI) Act.

This move has come after Aakash Vedak, a student of Bachelor of Arts (B.A) course of the Institute of Distance and Open Learning (IDOL) programme of MU, asked for photocopies of his answer sheets through the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Vedak was not satisfied with his marks and wanted to check his answer scripts within a specific time frame. But the university had denied all requests to give him the photocopies within 30 days but directed him to follow the standard in-house process which generally takes several months.

Vedak then filed an RTI to avail his answer papers. The university then agreed to provide photocopies of answer scripts for Rs 2 per sheet. Vedak told The Free Press Journal, “We can now access answer papers within 30 days under the RTI Act. Earlier students had to wait for months as the university procedure did not have a stipulated time. Often the university would tell students to come again a next day and unnecessarily prolong the process.”

The university has its process of providing answer scripts to students which takes a lot of time. Vedak said, “Why should we wait for months to get access to our own answer papers? The university is bound by the SC decision of 2011 to provide answer sheets to students. But the university was not following it all these years. Now at least the university will be responsible for providing information within a month and students will not have to wait forever.”