In a significant push for transparency in public examinations and recruitment processes, the Allahabad High Court has ruled that marks obtained by candidates in public exams are not confidential information and can be disclosed under the Right to Information Act, 2005.

The court clarified that candidates who appear in a public examination can seek the marks of fellow candidates through an RTI application, and such information can be shared by authorities without requiring the consent of the third party whose marks are being requested.

The ruling underscores the public nature of recruitment examinations and reinforces the need for transparency in evaluation and selection processes.

Marks are not private information

The judgment was delivered by a bench of Justice Ajit Kumar and Justice Swarupama Chaturvedi while hearing a writ petition concerning disclosure of marks in a recruitment examination.

The bench held that marks obtained in a public exam cannot be treated as confidential or private information.

“Marks obtained by a candidate, if information regarding that is sought by another candidate who has also participated in the examination, is not such confidential private information which may require even consent of that third party under Section 8,” the court observed.

The judges noted that public examinations are essentially a public activity, and once merit lists are prepared, the marks of candidates become part of a process affecting several individuals. As such, they cannot be regarded as entirely private.

The court further emphasized that when public interest is involved and privacy is not violated, authorities should ordinarily disclose such information under the RTI framework.

Case background

The dispute arose after a candidate who appeared in a recruitment examination conducted by the Indian Railways sought details of marks awarded to himself and three other candidates.

When the requested information was not fully provided, the matter eventually reached the Central Information Commission, which directed authorities to provide photocopies of the answer sheets to the applicant.

Railway officials challenged this directive before the High Court through a writ petition.

Answer sheets of others cannot be shared

While upholding the disclosure of marks, the High Court drew a clear distinction between marks and answer sheets.

The bench observed that providing photocopies of other candidates’ answer sheets could reveal sensitive details such as the names or signatures of examiners, making such disclosure inappropriate.

Authorities, therefore, cannot be compelled to provide photocopies of answer sheets of other candidates, the court said.

Instead, the court ruled that allowing the applicant to inspect the answer sheets would be sufficient to meet the requirements of the RTI law.

The judgment also clarified that a candidate can seek a photocopy of his or her own answer sheet, but not necessarily those of others. At the same time, if a complete outsider seeks such information, authorities may still invoke confidentiality depending on the circumstances.