The Punjab and Haryana High Court has recently held that in an exam based on Multiple Choice Questions [MCQ], a question having more than one appropriate answer is vague and hence is incapable of being asked.
Factual Background
The appellant candidate, Lovepreet Singh appeared for the Haryana Public Service Commission examination conducted to fill up the posts of Assistant Engineer and Mechanical Engineer.
Before the formal declaration of the result, the appellant raised objections with respect to six questions asked in the said exam after the Commission uploaded the answer key. Thereafter, the commission declared the results and the appellant could not secure the requisite marks and therefore failed to qualify for viva/interview.
Aggrieved by the same, the appellant moved to the High Court, wherein he contended that without considering the objections made by him, the Commission declared the result. In a separate plea, the appellant prayed for quashing the report submitted by the Expert Committee recommending the deletion of Question number 25 and 62, these were the two questions out of the six questions being asked.
Appellant also prayed for a direction to the Commission to restore those questions and since the appellant had chosen the correct options, to award him the marks.
Observation of the Court
However, the Single Judge dismissed the petition, and thus, challenging the Single Bench order, he moved before the Division bench by way of filling a letter patent appeal. Whereas the Court further noted, the Commission in its written statement, filed in those proceedings, clarified that objections submitted by all the candidates, including the appellant, were sent to the Expert Committee who, upon considering each of those, submitted its report.
Accordingly, the Commission had submitted before the Court that based upon the said report, the answer key was revised, two questions were deleted and results were declared. The Court noted that this particular stand was accepted by the appellant as he did not pursue the matter further and instead filed another plea challenging the decision of the commission to delete two questions asked in the MCQ exam.
The Apex Court relied on the case of Kanpur University v. Samir Gupta and Punjab and Haryana High Court’s judgment in the case of Ankita Mittal v. State of Haryana and others wherein it was held,
“The examining authority, guided by the experts in the subject, is well equipped and thus, rightly authorized to decide the answer key and in that process delete the suspect questions. Further, whether a question is framed aptly or vaguely or have multiple correct answers and therefore required to be deleted in the exclusive domain of the subject experts. Thus, ordinarily, the Court in exercise of power of judicial review would not interfere with the opinion of the experts unless shown to be conclusively erroneous or flawed.”
Observing the same, the appeal was dismissed.
Case Details
Before: Supreme Court
Case Title: Lovepreet Singh v. Haryana
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Ravi Shankar Jha and Justice Arun Palli
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