SrinagarThe J&K High Court on Wednesday asked that Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (J&KPSC) to implement its single bench verdict while conducting mains Combined Competitive examination 2016. The J&K PSC has already announced the schedule from February 15 to March 8 this year.
A division bench of Justices Ali Mohammad Magrey and Sanjeev Kumar however made it clear that it would subject to the outcome of the appeal filed by the J&K PSC against the verdict.
“The J&K PSC has challenged the single benchs judgment dated December 29 on several grounds and questioned whether allowing candidates with lower merit to appear in examination and denying the same benefit to candidates with higher merit does not amount to gross violation of principle of equality enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution of India, it said
I also questioned whether it has been estopped under Rule 8 of Combined Competitive Examination, Rules 2008 (SRO 387 of 2008) to revise the result of Combined Competitive Preliminary Examination.
Whether under Rule 12A of the J&K Public Service Commission (Conduct of Examination) rules 2005 (JKPSA) is constrained to complete the process of rectification of result within a period of three days and are estopped to do it after three days.
it said whether rectification of Model (Key) Answers amounts to re-evaluation of answer script of a candidate.
Whether revising Model (Key) Answers on the basis of opinion obtained from subject matter experts amounts to giving retrospective effect to rules.
On December 29, a bench of Justice M K Hanjura also directed the J&KPSC to allow the aspirants who appeared in first notification of shortlisted candidates as well as those appearing in the revised list, issued after 108 days, to take the mains examination within the time to be fixed by the J&KPSC.
The J&PSC, the court said, has an onerous responsibility to exert and exercise the highest degree of care and caution in handling the examinations and to maintain transparency so that the candidates repose trust and confidence in the institution.
It is not understood why Rule 12(B) was deleted when it was certainly in the public interest. If the OMR sheets and Answer Keys are disclosed after the examination, it will be in the public interest and not in the so called protected interest of the Commission.
As per Rule 12(B), inserted in the J&KPSC(Conduct of Examination) Rules, 2005, vide notification No (PSC/Exam/2015/12) on 13 of August 2015 provided: The Controller of Examinations will release the key of question paper preferably immediately after the conclusion of the Examination/ Test or on the working day following the day of the test. The keys will be uploaded on the website of the Commission.
It also provided that the candidates can represent to the Controller of Examination if they feel that the official key to any of the question(s) is/are working within three days from the day of notification of key. The Controller, it said, after scrutiny of all such representations shall refer them to a Committee of two Experts in the relevant subject.
Had the respondents (J&KPSC) not deleted Rule 12(B) from the text of the provisions of the J&K PSC(Conduct of Examination) Rules, 2005, the position, as it emerges today, would not have surfaced. On the basis of the said rule, they could have done the exercise earlier also.
The court added: No semblance of fairness can be attached to the statement of the Commission that the revised list was drawn after adhering to the norms and the rules which on the basis of the plea submitted by them before the Jammu wing of the High Court in SWP No. 1138/2017 runs into complete contradiction. It does not portray the correct position as the Commission took a definite stand before the Court that they have adhered to all the norms, rules and the law governing the subject and have vehemently denied that there is any error in the list so prepared and published vide notification 23rd of April, 2017.
In June, the J&KPSC had invited online applications for admission to the J&K Combined Competitive (Preliminary) Examination, 2016, to fill up 277 posts in the pay scale of Rs.9300-34800 with the grade pay of Rs.4800, in the various ServicesJunior Scale of J&K Administrative Service, J&K Police (Gazetted) Service and J&K Accounts (Gazetted) Service. It received 47122 applications, out of which 36,681 candidates appeared in the preliminary examination on March 3. The result of shortlisted candidates was declared on April 23 and cut off merit was 270.77 points. 6925 candidates were declared as qualified for admission to the J&K Combined Competitive (Main) Examination, 2016. The number of the candidates admitted to the Main Examination was in the proportion of 25 times of the total number of vacancies. Later the J&KPSC revised the cut-off merit at 277.275 points and issued a revised result on August 9 as a result, 429 candidates could not make it to the cut-off merit for appearing in the Combined Services Competitive (main) examination.
The counsel representing J&KPSC had argued that the list was revised as the wrong answer keys could not have be persisted with and its benefit extended to a candidate. He argued while applying the corrected key to OMR sheets of all the candidates across the board, the cut off merit jumped from 270.477 to 277.275, as a corollary to which, 429 candidates who were declared qualified earlier had to give way to equal number of candidates who obtained merit equal to or higher than the cut off merit so fixed277.275 marks by reason of rectification of answer keys. The petitioners on the other hand contended that the commission cant go against the Supreme Court guidelines on the subject.