ANKIT TIWARI AND OTHERS vs. HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH & ANOTHER

Madhya Pradesh High Court (Division Bench (DB)- Two Judge)

WRIT PETITION, 10070 of 2021, Judgment Date: Jul 14, 2021

Law laid down -

(i) Publication of key answers along with the result of the test is desirable in the interest of fairness and that correctness of key answers should be ascertained from the standard and prescribed text books and not merely on the basis of inferences.

(ii) In a competitive examination candidates cannot be made to suffer on account of the errors committed by the examining body and to avoid any such gross injustice, re-evaluation can be directed.

(iii) Such re-evaluation and revision on the ground of incorrect model answer key should not be limited only to those candidates who had approached the court but should be extended to all candidates because the fault did not lie with the candidate but with the examining body.

(iv) If for any justifiable reason some questions are deleted and marks are re-distributed uniformly giving benefit to all the candidates, then the same cannot be said to be arbitrary or irrational.

(v) Even if the rules do not permit reevaluation, 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.

ANKIT TIWARI AND OTHERS vs.  HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH & ANOTHER