Bhubaneswar: The Chief Information Commissioner (SCIC) of Odisha has directed the state’s Public Service Commission to provide interview marks to a candidate who was not selected for the post of an assistant teacher in 2022.
The SCIC has passed this order after hearing a petition filed by Minati Rani Mohapatra of Bhadrak district, who had applied for the post of assistant teacher in history, the Commission said in a statement Monday.
As per the recruitment advertisement, the selection was based on career marks and interview marks. She did not find her name in the list of selected candidates published by OPSC in June 2022.
Unhappy with the result, she filed an RTI application in December that year before the Odisha PSC, asking for details of her marks obtained both in the career assessment and interview.
The PSC provided her with the career marks but refused to inform her interview marks on the grounds that the panel does not disclose interview marks to candidates, according to the statement.
In his judgment, SCIC Manoj Parida stated that such a decision of the OPSC was contrary to the provisions of the RTI Act.
The candidate has a right to know the marks scored in the interview, so that she can improve her performance in the next attempt, the Commission said.
“Every candidate, particularly the candidates who have failed the test, has a right to know why they could not succeed. The OPSC cannot keep the candidates in the dark,” it said.
Parida has stated that Section 22 of the RTI Act, 2005, supersedes all other Acts and Rules in providing information to applicants. He asked the OPSC to change its procedure and provide them with details regarding the marks scored by the candidates.
