News & Updates
10-Feb-21 11:32
19,289
RTI Act is the most revolutionary act for setting out the practical regime of Right to Information, the 3 Key building pillars behind the act are Responsibility, Transparency and Accountability, which empowered Indian Citizens to secure access to information directly from the Government/Public Authorities.
In this article, I have penned down various Hon’ble Supreme Court judgements, provisions of the RTI Act, 2005, provisions of the examination body for providing certified copies of answer books and also covers exclusively on the RTI process flow, application format, payment of fees etc., for CA students and members to obtain certified copies from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) at a nominal cost of Rs. 2/- per page.
Process to get certified copies under RTI for Rs. 10
ICAI procedure to obtain Certified Copies
As you are aware of the process to obtain certified copies as per the ICAI procedure, where a student has to apply online for seeking Inspection/Certified copies of answer books within 30 days from the date of declaration of the result of the relevant examination along with the Fee of Rs. 500/- per paper and certified copies of your answer books will be provided within 30 days from the date of receipt of your application.
You can click here to check the announcement made by ICAI dated 24th January 2019 to know more about the revised Procedure for providing inspection/certified copies of evaluated answer-books to the concerned examinees as per ICAI procedure.The above ICAI procedure is an expensive one and a student has got to pay Rs. 500/- per paper for Inspection/ Certified copies.
For example, if a CA Final student desires to apply for certified copies of all the 8 subjects, he has to incur Rs. 4,000/- (Rs.500 per subject × 8 subjects) which is more than the Examination fee i.e., Rs. 3,300/-
To enable easy access to the information, the Right to Information Act, 2005 provides access to certified copies of answer sheets at a nominal cost of Rs. 2/- per page and inspection at free of cost.
RTI Act is in force since 2005, every year many students are applying for certified copies under the RTI Act, 2005 but, ICAI has been denying the answer-scripts to the candidates and compels candidates to seek their answer-scripts as per ICAI procedure which provides for the cost of Rs. 500/- per subject.
A similar case has happened with ICSI and Mr. Paras Jain, a student of ICSI, fought tirelessly for 7 years and went to the Supreme Court. And on 14th of April, 2019 Supreme Court in the judgement ICSI Vs. Paras Jain, made clear that, a candidate is free to apply for certified copies under the RTI Act, 2005 or as per the procedure laid down by the Institute and fee as to be charged as per the RTI rules when an application is made under the RTI Act, 2005 but not as per the Institute guidelines.
ICAI reply to the application for Certified Copies under the RTI Act after SC Judgement:
But, after the Supreme Court judgement ICSI Vs. Paras Jain, I have made an RTI application for Certified of Advanced Information Technology Test (AITT) and Practical Training Assessment Test (PT Test), within 30 days ICAI has provided a soft copy of the answer sheet along with the marks secured and Result card at FREE OF COST. The same has been provided at the end of this article for your reference.
And also in a reply to the RTI application filed by me on 1st of May 2019, ICAI was informed that Inspection or Certified copies of answers books can be sought under the Right to Information Act, 2005 or as per the ICAI procedure and there is no restriction.
ICAI guidelines and fee for certified copies as per the RTI Act, 2005.
As per the announcement No.13-CA(Exams)/WdngPlcy/2012 dated November 16, 2012 answer books of the examination conducted by ICAI are retained for a period of four months (120) days from the date of declaration of result of the relevant examination and in regulation 39(4), Institute has specifically mentioned that a student can seek verification, inspection and/or certified copy of answer books under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
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The following is the announcement
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And Rule 4 of the RTI Rules, 2012, prescribes a fee for information as follows:
While making RTI applications, the payment of RTI Fees of Rs. 10/- needs to be made and the same is waived off for applicants falling below the poverty line by producing the proof of BPL Category.
Inspection of Records | No fee for the first hour; a fee of â¹5.00 for each subsequent hour or a fraction thereof. |
For each page (in A-4 or A-3 size paper) | â¹ 2.00 per page of photocopy |
Procedure to obtain Certified copies or Inspection of answer books under the RTI:
A candidate can make an online application at his doorsteps without visiting any office, though user registration is not mandatory to file RTI application, I suggest you create an account at RTI online site, so that you can have a list of applications in user account and details like name, email, the address will be auto-filled while making RTI application.
Reply from ICAI and additional fee payment:
You can check the status of your application after 30 days from the date of online application by clicking Disposed of link from the homepage. Your application status will be intimated through SMS and Email also. Alternatively, you can click on view status and enter Registration Number, E-mail id, Security code and click on submit, you will be intimated about the amount of fees to be paid by the way of Demand Draft or Indian Postal Order.
Take a Demand draft or Indian Postal Order for the prescribed amount drawn in favour of The Secretary, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, payable at New Delhi and the same has to be sent to the CPIO by the speed post to below address by mentioning your name and RTI application number on the backside of the Demand Draft or Postal order.
Shri Dinesh Kumar Mishra
ICAI Bhawan, P. B. No. 7100,
Indraprastha New Delhi – 110 002
Within one week from the date of receipt of your Demand Draft or Postal order at the aforesaid address your certified copies will be sent to the address mentioned in the RTI application through India Post.
Electronic Demand draft – Convenient and easiest way:
Instead of approaching the bank and standing in a very long waiting queue you’ll be able to apply for online demand draft if you have internet banking.
While applying for DD mention your RTI application number and mention DD delivery address as follows:
Shri Dinesh Kumar Mishra
ICAI Bhawan, P. B. No. 7100,
Indraprastha New Delhi – 110 002
DDs will be couriered by the bank to the mailing address and delivered within 3 days as ICAI Head office is in Delhi, a metro city. You will be updated with the courier carrier details and delivery details on time to time.
On receipt of DD, CPIO will provide the information/ certified copies in 3-6 working days through speed post to the address mentioned in the RTI application.
Conclusion
My sincere gratitude is reserved for Advocate Paras Jain sir, for his invaluable insights and suggestions. I really appreciate his willingness to help the students. And on 21st of July, 2019 a contempt notice was also sent by the Paras Jain sir, to the President, the Vice-President and the Secretary of the ICAI, requesting to follow the law laid down by the SC with regard to providing certified copies under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Recently Delhi University withdrew its writ petition from the court on July 26, in view of the Supreme Court judgment in the Paras Jain v. Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) case and made certified copies available under the RTI by charging Rs. 2/- per page to the students.
There are very remote chances of rejecting the RTI application by ICAI and you must get certified copies of the evaluated answer sheets within 30 days as per the RTI procedure at a nominal cost of Rs. 2/- per page.
My sincere thanks to Mr. Soham V. Joshi for his diligent proofreading and support at all the times.
If you’ve got not received a reply inside 30days or not received certified copies through RTI, please reach me on mail: cavinayreddy@icai.org or mobile(preferably on WhatsApp) +91 7569989230 I can help you out.
Share your experience, if you have received certified copies of answer sheets under the RTI Act from the ICAI.
Thank you!
Vinay Reddy
Right to Information is to make you right-thinking Indians
About the Author:
Mr. B Vinay Reddy native from Hyderabad is a B.com graduate from the IGNOU and a student of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). He is a regular contributor on Taxation at various leading websites and a paper presenter at the CA Students Conferences hosted by BOS of ICAI. He believes that sharing provides you to learn and develop your knowledge and understanding about people and the subject.
He can be reached on e-mail cavinayreddy@icai.org
Comments(55)
i have applied for copies through RTI on 26th feb. also got msg that payment to rti was successful but after that till today 13th march i have not got any reply from them regarding my application for copies....what to do sir?
If you file for RTI then you can't apply for verification.Is that true?
Sir yesterday i applied certified copy in RTI. I also received application number.. But I had one doubt sir where I get my certified copy..sir.. Physically or electronically... How much days it will take..
Sir My application for certified copies for revaluation in icai portal got failed but amount got deducted from my bank account. Will I get my money back ?? Can you please provide me help line mail of icai ?? What shall I do now sir. Should I make a new application
Can I get copies from RTI without asking for reverification? I am satisfied with my marks, just want to see where Iâ??ve done the mistakes.
Verification is done suo-moto when one applies for Certified copies, irrespective of whether it is under RTI or via ICAI portal.
Is certified copies received through RTI and ICAI the same ? Is certified copies received through RTI is revaluved ?
I got 56 marks in fm and I want to apply for verification through icai for FM subject , and other 3 subjects through RTI can I do it Will there be any problem . Please reply sir
Sir will there be any difference for applying inspection or certified copies under RTI and ICAI
What is difference btwn recorrection and reverification sir.. ð?¤?ð?¤?
Verification includes Whether any question or part thereof has remained unvalued and if so, to evaluate the same and issue a revised statement of marks. â?¢ Whether there is any totaling error in any question or total marks on the cover page â?¢ Whether there is any discrepancy between the marks for each question and or/part thereof and marks for each question indicated on the cover page of the answer book Recorrection is checking again which is not done !
Sir then what is the process for full paper again correction ?? Got 57 in law so need 3 marks what should I go for sir plz tell sir?