[MP Civil Judge Exam 2019] Committee comprising two retired Judges to examine correctness of answer key: Madhya Pradesh High Court

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Wednesday tasked a two-member committee comprising of two retired High Court judges to examine whether the answer key for the preliminary round of the Madhya Pradesh Civil Judge Exam, 2019 requires correction (Ankit Tiwari vs. High Court of Madhya Pradesh)..The committee constituted by the Court, with the consent of parties to the case, comprise of Justices (retired) KK Trivedi and CV Sirpurkar.."... we appoint a Committee comprising of Hon'ble Shri Justice (Retd.) K.K. Trivedi and Hon'ble Shri Justice (Retd.) C.V. Sirpurkar, the retired Judges of this Court for the purpose of examining the correctness of the model key answers of the questions in respect of which the grievance has been raised in these petitions", the Court's order stated..The committee has been directed to submit its proposal to revise the model answer key, if needed, to the Examination Committee of the High Court two weeks after it receives petitions on the issue from aggrieved candidates..Thereafter, the Examination Committee can decide on the proposal to revise the model key and take steps to prepare a fresh selection list withtin a weeks' time. .In compiling the fresh list, the Examination Committee is to include candidates who secured more marks than the last candidate originally allowed to appear in the main examination. .Pertinently, candidates selected in the first list will not be excluded. Rather, in addition to them, newly included candidates will also be permitted to appear in the main written examination, the Court explained. .The Bench of Justices Prakash Shrivastava and Vishal Dhagat passed the order on a plea moved by over sixty-five candidates, who appeared for the Madhya Pradesh Civil Judge Exam 2019 challenging the results of the preliminary exam declared in May 2021..Petition filed before Madhya Pradesh High Court challenging results of MP Civil Judge Exam 2019.The plea filed through advocate Prashant Manchanda sought the re-computation of marks after correcting the flawed answer key and also prayed for reassessing the merit list..It was the petitioners' argument that the answer key published in March 2021 was accurate. However, in the revised final answer key published in May 2021, the authorities modified the answers and assigned wrong responses..The petitioners alleged that they were unfairly excluded from the list of successful candidates after modification of answers and deletion of correct answers led to a flawed answer key..It was contended that if re-computation of marks is not carried out, the petitioners’ fundamental rights under Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution will be violated..In this regard, the petition listed out details of several questions where the examination key made erroneous modifications and provides for a rationale with respect to the correction of each error..The Court relied on the judgment of the Supreme Court in Ran Vijay Singh and others Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh among others to examine the scope of judicial review in such matters. The Court went on to hold that the candidates should be made to not suffer the consequences of errors on the part of the examining body, and the Court can intervene to avoid injustice..“Even if the rules do not permit re-evaluation, the court may permit the same only if it is demonstrated very clearly without any inferential process of reasoning or by process of rationalization, in rare or exceptional cases when material error has been committed", the Court said..The High Court also noted that any decision taken in the matter may prejudicially affect selected candidates who are not before the Court. To protect their interests, the High Court adopted the course suggested by the Supreme Court in Pallav Mongia vs. Reg. General Delhi High Court..“Any candidate whether he has approached the court or not, who has secured equal or higher marks than the last candidate who has been permitted to take mains examination, be permitted to participate in the mains examination", the Court explained..Accordingly, the Court directed the Examination Committee to keep in view the ratio in the case of Pallav Mongia and recompute the marks to prepare a fresh list of eligible candidates by including all such candidates who secured more marks than the last candidate originally allowed to appear in the main examination..[Read Order]