Mumbai: Vikita V Soni who had been waiting with bated breath since January, has brought smile on every chartered accountant (CA) aspirants' face who wanted to get a copy of their answer sheets after they appeared for the exams with her RTI query.

In a landmark order, the Central Information Commission, (CIC), has asked "The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India" (ICAI) to give a copy of the assessed answer sheet to Vikita V Soni, a candidate who had appeared for the final CA examination.

The CIC, in its order stated that an examinee has the right to access the assessed answer sheets for "self-assessing their performance."

The case came up for hearing before the commission after Vikita, a Khetwadi resident, had filed an Right to Information (RTI) query in March to seek a copy of her assessed answer sheet when she was informed that she had failed in her examination while she was expecting her name in the toppers' list.

After being refused to get a copy of her answer sheet, Vikita approached Tarun Mitral Mandal, an NGO, to assist her in filing an RTI query.

"After being unable to get a copy of her answer sheet, Vikita approached us in filing the query and we obliged her in doing so," said NGO convener Rajen Dharod.

The public information officer of ICAI had rejected the query, which was filed in January, stating that "As per the institute rules, this query does not come under RTI realm."