News of the year - 'CA examinees can see answersheet'

MUMBAI: This news is bound to cheer all the chartered accountancy students who have been wanting to get a copy of their answer sheets after they appeared for the exams.

The Central Information Commission, (CIC), in a landmark order, has directed The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to provide a copy of the evaluated answer sheet to Vikita V Soni, a candidate who had appeared for the final CA examination. In its order, the commission said that an examinee had the right to access the evaluated answer sheets for "self-assessing her performance".

The case came up for hearing before the commission after Soni, a Khetwadi resident, filed an RTI query in March seeking a copy of her evaluated answersheet. Soni said she was expecting her name in the toppers' list, she was shocked to know that she had failed.

Soni then approached Tarun Mitral Mandal, an NGO, to assist her in filing an RTI query. "She approached us and we helped her in filing the query," said NGO convener Rajen Dharod. Though the query was filed in January, the public information officer of ICAI rejected the query stating, "According to institute rules, this query doesn't come under RTI ambit."