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Kerala Public Service Commission & Ors. v. The State Information Commission & Anr. (with Public Service Commission U.P. v. Raghvendra Singh)

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal Nos. 823-854 of 2016)Decided 4 Feb 2016
Civil Appeal Nos. 823-854 of 2016
Justice M.Y. Eqbal · Justice Arun Mishra

Background

Candidates who had appeared in public service examinations sought, under the RTI Act, scanned copies of their own answer sheets, tabulation sheets showing interview marks, and the names of the examiners who evaluated their papers. The Public Service Commissions (Kerala and Uttar Pradesh) refused this information, but the State Information Commission and, on further appeal, the High Courts of Kerala and Allahabad held that no fiduciary relationship barred disclosure, and ordered the information, including examiners' names, to be given. The Commissions appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court agreed that candidates are entitled to their own scanned answer sheets, tabulation sheets, and interview marks, since there is no fiduciary bar to a candidate seeing their own exam performance and disclosure promotes fairness. However, it disagreed with the High Courts on disclosing examiners' names, holding that the relationship between the Public Service Commission and the examiners it appoints is a principal-agent/fiduciary relationship, so that information shared between them (including identity) is protected. The Court reasoned that revealing examiners' identities serves no real public interest, risks retaliation by unsuccessful candidates, and could invite improper contact by future candidates seeking an unfair advantage. The appeals were accordingly allowed in part: the High Courts' judgments were upheld on disclosure of the candidate's own answer sheet/marks, but modified to exclude disclosure of examiners' names.

Lesson Learnt

Under the RTI Act, a candidate can get their own exam answer sheets and marks as a matter of fairness and transparency, but examiners' identities remain protected because of the fiduciary/principal-agent relationship between the examining body and its examiners, and the risk of retaliation or misuse if that identity is disclosed.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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