Ranchi, Dec. 29: The Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) cannot deny students information about the cut-off marks fixed for each subject in civil service examinations, observed the State Information Commission (SIC) today.

Baidyanath Mishra, the information commissioner and SIC spokesperson, said: “Though we have not received any such application, we will certainly issue a directive if anybody approaches us.”

JPSC, which had earlier decided to provide the cut-off marks to students in view of an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) to the Union Public Service Commission, stopped on the ground that the Delhi High Court stayed the CIC directive.

“Jharkhand does not come under the jurisdiction of Delhi High Court,” Mishra justified his observation today. He added that even universities as well as the Jharkhand Academic Council would be asked to inform about question-wise marks obtained by a student in various examinations.

CIC had recently asked the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to reveal question-wise marks awarded to students of Class X.

SIC has also appealed the Jharkhand High Court to appoint public information officers (PIOs) and formulate rules to furnish information to the public.

The Right To Information (RTI) Act came into effect on October 12, 2005. A grace period of 100 days was provided under the Act to designate PIOs since the enactment of the RTI had expired.

“The High Court is perhaps the only institution, which is yet to implement the RTI Act,” said Mishra. RTI covers all the three wings of governance, including central and state administrations, panchayats, local bodies and non-governmental organisations receiving public funds.

High court registrar- general Krishna Murari, however, said he was not aware of any such letter from SIC, as he had joined the court a few days ago.

Chief State Information Commissioner (Just Rtd) Harishankar Prasad said SIC has received 275 cases since it began functioning in August 2006. Of them, 40 cases were shifted to CIC as it involved central government agencies, while 40 were not maintainable.

Prasad also elaborated on the effectiveness of the commission, which, he said, “is carrying out its business well, though it is yet to be equipped with adequate manpower and infrastructure”. He gave example of how the Ranchi district administration issued arms licence to one Nawal Kishore Singh 12 years after he had filed an application, after the commission’s intervention.