Plea in Kerala High Court seeks directions to Kerala University of Health Sciences to upload answer books, score sheets of exams online

A petition has been moved before the Kerala High Court seeking directions to be issued to the Kerala University of Health Sciences and the Controller of Examinations of the KUHS to upload answer books, score sheets and answer keys of all examinations on the website of the University for the benefit of students. .The plea was made in a petition alleging irregularities in the valuation of exams conducted for students pursuing the Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) course in various universities affiliated to the Kerala University of Health Sciences..The plea moved by over 50 students from various colleges raised the grievance that there are severe restrictions to publicly accessing scorecards and answer keys for the exams. .There is no transparency in the matter, entailing violation of the students' rights under Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty) under the Constitution of India, it was submitted. .The petition filed through advocates Raghul Sudheesh, Lakshmi J, Glaxon KJ and Amal Jees Alex highlighted the following:.The petitioners had failed in certain subjects and had to appear for supplementary examinations. There were several irregularities in the valuation conducted for these examinations and this has resulted in mass failure. The petitioners attempted to gather information about these failures from Ayurveda medical colleges across Kerala, which revealed that there has been mass failure in Kerala for the said examinations. The application for obtaining a photocopy of the answer book and score sheet can be submitted online, but only through the principal of the college concerned. The fee for such a request can be paid only online through the principal or head of the institution in a single transaction for all the candidates who had applied. Individual remittance of fee by an individual candidate is not entertained by the Kerala University of Health Sciences. The fee for obtaining a photocopy of the answer book is Rs. 555 per paper. The fee for obtaining a photocopy of the scoresheet is also Rs. 555 per paper. The total cost for obtaining a photocopy of the answer book and scoresheet of single paper comes to Rs. 1,110 per paper. For certain subjects, the subject will be divided into two parts. This brings the total cost to Rs.2,220 for certain subjects. The high cost for obtaining the answer book and score sheets as well as the system of forwarding the application only through the principal/ head of the institution is itself a major access barrier as far as students are concerned. This is a violation of the rights guaranteed to the petitioners under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. If a revaluation is conducted, the scenario may be totally be different from what is existing now and many students will pass papers which they are shown to have failed..In order to ensure more transparency in the examination system, and given concerns that there have been malafides in the valuation of examinations, the students made the following, among other prayers:To direct the Kerala University of Health Sciences and the Controller of Examinations of the KUHS to upload answer books and score sheets of all examinations on the website of the University for the students to view and download, ensuring proper security and privacy; To direct these authorities to publish answer keys issued for all the University Exams.