Uttarakhand High Court Orders Re-evaluation of Civil Services Exam Over Defective Question

Question on Food Security Index Deemed Faulty; Commission Directed to Re-compute Results

In a significant ruling, the Uttarakhand High Court has directed the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission to delete a structurally defective question from the General Studies paper of the Uttarakhand Combined State Civil/Upper Subordinate Services Examination, 2025, and re-compute the results accordingly. The decision came in response to a writ petition filed by Kuldeep Kumar Rathi and others, who challenged the correctness of several questions in the preliminary examination.

The court, presided over by Justices Ravindra Maithani and Alok Mahra, found that Question No. 70 of Set 'A' was erroneously formulated. The question inquired about the total score obtained by Uttarakhand in the "6th Food Security Index, 2024," but used the score from the "6th State Food Safety Index, 2023-2024" as the answer. The court acknowledged that food security and food safety are distinct concepts, and the confusion warranted the question's exclusion from the evaluation.

The ruling emphasized Regulation 9(iv) of the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission (Examination Result Preparation Procedure) Regulations, 2022, which mandates the exclusion of structurally defective questions and the proportional adjustment of marks for the remaining questions.

During the proceedings, the Commission's counsel admitted the fault in the question's formulation and agreed that it should have been deleted. The court also noted the Supreme Court's guidance on the judicial review of examination answer keys, underscoring the need for restraint unless a question is demonstrably wrong.

The petitioners had initially contested the Commission's handling of multiple questions but eventually focused solely on Question No. 70. The court's decision mandates the Commission to publish a revised merit list for the preliminary examination, recalculated without the defective question.

The ruling highlights the judiciary's role in ensuring fairness in public examinations and upholding candidates' rights to equal treatment, aligning with constitutional principles.

Bottom Line:

Public Examination - When a question in a public examination is structurally defective, it should be excluded from evaluation, and marks for remaining questions should be increased proportionately as per the regulations governing the examination.

Statutory provision(s): Regulation 9(iv) of Uttarakhand Public Service Commission (Examination Result Preparation Procedure) Regulations, 2022

Kuldeep Kumar Rathi v. Uttarakhand Public Service Commission, (Uttarakhand)(DB) : Law Finder Doc Id # 2817743