Marks Obtained By Candidates In Recruitment Process For Public Posts Not Private Information, Observes Bombay HC

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday emphasised that the recruitment process for public posts must be transparent, and ruled that the marks obtained by candidates are not private information or “invasion of privacy”.

About The Case

A bench of Justices MS Sonak and Jitendra Jain was hearing a petition filed by Omkar Kalmankar, a 2018 candidate for Pune district court’s junior clerk test. He himself wasnt selected but had sought details of the marks scored by other candidates under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. However, he was denied access by the public information officer and the State Information Commissioner.

The HC directed the authorities concerned to provide Kalmankar with the marks obtained by the selected candidates in the written exam, Marathi and English typing Recruitment process for junior clerks in the Pune court was a public process, initiated by a public — advertisement tests, and the interview within six weeks.

Kalmankar had cleared the written and typing tests but failed the interview session. The court noted that the recruitment process for junior clerks in the Pune district court was a public process, initiated by a public advertisement. It observed that withholding the marks could lead to unnecessary doubts, which undermines transparency and accountability in public recruitment. The court further clarified that, under the RTI Act, only personal information with no relevance to public activities or interests is exempt from disclosure.