The minutes of meetings for the preparations of IIT Joint Entrance Examination cannot be provided under the Right to Information Act as their disclosure could result in "breakdown" of the examination system, the Central Information Commission has held.

The transparency panel while hearing the plea of an RTI applicant who sought, besides other details, a copy of the minutes of the JEE committee meetings of 2010 agreed with the argument of IIT-Mumbai that it contained crucial details about 2011 examinations which are yet to be held.

"The modus operandi regarding question paper setting, production -- printing, proof correction, bundling, packing etc., transport to various institutes and other such details associated with these operations are a part of the minutes as are software/server details for result preparation and counselling.

"These are highly confidential in nature and other than finer details, may not change on yearly basis," the IIT said.


The premier engineering institute said disclosure of information of this nature could lead to "incitement of offence", like tracking and disrupting distribution of question papers. It also said the details are intellectual property which could harm competitive position of third party.

"The Commission is of the opinion that the disclosure of the information... is indeed confidential in nature the disclosure of which is denied as it has the potential to lead to incitement of an offence and may also adversely affect the economic interests of the state if there happens to be a breakdown of the examination system," Information Commissioner Annapurna Dixit held.