HC notice to Army for not giving details to failed candidate

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday issued a notice to the Army's Ambala recruiting office for denying a copy of the answersheet and the merit list to an aspirant of soldier's post under the RTI Act. Disappointed after not getting selected into the Army, despite performing well in the examination, the candidate had sought copies of his answersheet and the merit list relating to the written test for recruitment.
However, Army's Ambala-based recruiting office not only denied the answersheet but also didn't give the merit list on the grounds of being it "the professional secrets or intellectual property of Army".
The petitioner, through his counsel Pardeep Rapria, argued before the high court that in April 2014, he had appeared in the final stage of written test after qualifying the physical fitness and medical tests. When his name did not appear in the final selection list, he had sought details of the final result, which were denied.
The counsel for the petitioner said that the disclosure of the information sought by the petitioner relates to the basic standard of 'transparency' and 'competitiveness' to contain corruption and opaqueness in the recruitment process for any government job. He also submitted that it was a right of every candidate to seek the complete details relating to the recruitment process. "The disclosure of such information will curb the corruption, irregularities and malpractices in the recruitment process in the government jobs," he argued in the court.
Hearing the pleas, Justice Ajay Tewari issued a notice to public information officer (PIO) of the Army recruiting office, Ambala Cantonment to file a reply on petitioner's contentions by October 19.