Court No. - 3
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 20798 of 2019 Petitioner :- Rekha Verma Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Krishna Kumar Chaudhari,Arvind Kumar Singh,Sanjeev Kumar Kushwaha Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Saral Srivastava,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Standing Counsel for the respondent Nos. 1 to 5.
The petitioner pursuant to an advertisement dated 23.1.2018 applied for selection on the post of Assistant Teacher. The petitioner was allotted registration no. 6200003923, bearing Roll no. 59620703408. The petitioner alleges that after declaration of result, she applied for evaluation and on evaluation, she has secured 63 marks. The petitioner applied for photocopy of the answer-sheet under Right to Information Act but she has not been provided the same.
In the aforesaid backdrop, the petitioner has prayed for following main relief:-
"(i) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding and directing the respondent authorities particularly respondent No. 5 to produce the scan copy of answer sheet of obtained marks of examination of Assistant Teacher Recruitment-2018 (68500 posts) of the petitioner which was sought by the petitioner from respondent No. 5 through RTI, 2005."
I have heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Standing Counsel for the respondents.
Learned counsel for the petitioner has placed reliance on a judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Central Board of Secondary Education and another v. Aditya Bandopadhyay and others, (2011) 8 SCC 497, wherein the Supreme Court has held that a candidate can obtain certified copy of the answer script under the provisions of the Right to Information Act. The relevant part of the judgment is extracted herein below:
"36. ...Therefore, the decision of this Court in Maharashtra State Board [Maharashtra State Board of Secondary Education and Higher Secondary Education v. Paritosh Bhupeshkumar Sheth, (1984) 4 SCC 27] and subsequent decisions following the same, will not affect or interfere with the right of the examinee seeking inspection of the answer books or taking certified copies thereof."
In view of the above, I am of the opinion that no useful purpose would be served to keep this writ petition pending. Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of by issuing a direction upon the respondent No. 5 to take appropriate decision in accordance with law expeditiously, preferably within four weeks from the date of communication of this order.
Needless to say that this Court has not expressed its opinion on the merits of the case. The authority shall pass the order independently and in accordance with law.
The writ petition is, accordingly, disposed of. No order as to costs.
Order Date :- 20.12.2019 Jaswant