Haryana Civil Services prelims candidates entitled to final answer key, rules HC

Saurabh Malik

Chandigarh, August 25

Making it clear that the candidates appearing for the Haryana Civil Services (Executive Branch) preliminary examination were entitled to have the final answer key, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has set a week’s deadline for the Haryana Public Service Commission to upload the same.

The observation

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To say that after inviting objections, candidates are not entitled to know the final answer key frustrates the very purpose of inviting objections. Justice Arun Monga

“As to why would the commission adopt such opaqueness in declaring the result of preliminary examination without disclosing the final answer key is not clear?” Justice Arun Monga asserted, while issuing the direction.

Justice Monga was hearing a petition filed by Naveen Kumar against the State of Haryana and another respondent. Unsuccessful in the preliminary examination, the petitioner-aspirant was seeking the quashing of the result dated August 9.

Justice Monga asserted the candidates were indeed entitled to have the final answer key of the preliminary examination, pursuant to the directions issued by the HC in another case almost a decade ago.

“To turn around now and canvass per contra that the answer key once finalised cannot be uploaded until declaration of the final selection result and/or the appointment of the candidates is slightly baffling, to say the least. Such a course would naturally lead the candidates high and dry in the absence of not knowing if their answer sheets have been rightly evaluated as per the final answer key,” Justice Monga asserted.

In his detailed order, Justice Monga asserted it was not that the commission had not disclosed the “un-finalised” answer key prior to the expert committee’s report for the purpose of inviting objections. But to say that the candidates were not entitled to know the final answer key frustrated the very purpose of inviting objections.

Justice Monga also made it clear that further objections of any kind were not to be invited on the final answer key to be uploaded. The earlier round of objections would be treated as conclusive, since the expert committee was constituted pursuant to inviting the same and the panel had already rendered its expert opinion to delete, retain or change the answers to the questions objected to.

Justice Monga observed the commission’s counsel had drawn the court’s attention to a clause in the advertisement, making it clear that the marks obtained in the preliminary examination were completely insignificant for the final selection.

The same was merely a qualifying round to determine a candidate’s eligibility to undertake the next round of written examination. The selection was made on the basis of marks obtained in the main written examination followed by the marks in the interview.

“It is made clear that the commission is not under any further obligation to disclose the candidate-wise performance in the preliminary examination, once the answer key is uploaded by it,” Justice Monga concluded.