Delhi High Court
Dr. Prashant Dass And Ors. vs Uoi And Ors. on 10 February, 2012
Author: Hima Kohli
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(C) 638/2012 and CM 1375/2012
Decided on: 10th February, 2012
IN THE MATTER OF
DR. PRASHANT DASS AND ORS. ..... Petitioners
Through: Mr. O.P. Gulabani, Advocate
versus
UOI AND ORS. ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. Asit Tiwari, Advocate for R-1/UOI.
Mr. Mehmood Pracha, Advocate with Mr. Sumit
Babbar and Mr. Sahil Singh Chauhan, Advocates for
R-2/AIIMS.
CORAM
HON'BLE MS.JUSTICE HIMA KOHLI
HIMA KOHLI, J. (Oral)
1. The present petition is filed by five petitioners praying inter alia
for quashing of the All India Post Graduate Medical Entrance Exxamination-
2012 (in short 'the ÁIPGMEE-2012), held simultaneously in 156 centres all
over the country on 08.01.2012. The petitioners have also sought directions
to respondent No.2/AIIMS to evolve a mechanism to prevent recurrence of
such an incident of cheating in the entrance examination, which occurred in
a Centre at Noida, as noted in the press clippings.
2. On 31.01.2012, counsel for respondent No.2/AIIMS had stated
on instructions that a letter dated 24.01.2012 had been addressed by the
Sub-Dean (Examination), AIIMS to the Director General, Directorate General
of health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of
India, stating inter alia that the incident of cheating in respect of the All
India Post Graduate Medical Entrance Examination-2012 held on 08.01.2012
was found to have occurred only at one examination centre situated at Noida
and that the Centre Supervisor at the said centre had submitted a
comprehensive report, which was in turn forwarded for investigation to the
Crime Branch, Delhi Police. The report of the investigation was awaited. In
the report dated 10.01.2012 prepared by the Centre Supervisor at the Noida
Examination Centre, a mention was made of three candidates from whose
possession, some electronic gadgets were recovered by the police after
investigation. Though on the last date, it was stated by the counsel for
respondent No.2/AIIMS that apart from the aforesaid stray incident that took
place only in one centre at Noida and the examinations in all the remaining
155 examination centres were held peacefully and without any hindrance,
respondent No.2/AIIMS was directed to file a brief affidavit in that regard.
3. An affidavit has been filed by respondent No.2/AIIMS on
08.02.2012, wherein it is stated that the entrance examination in all the
centres all over the country had commenced at 10 AM on 08.01.2012 and
that the examination went on smoothly at all centres except at the Noida
centre situated at Vishwa Bharti Public School, Arun Vihar, Sector-28. When
the examination was in progress at the aforesaid centre, at about 10:20 AM,
out of the two invigilators in the Noida centre, one invigilator had reported
that one candidate possessed a mobile phone, which was subsequently
confiscated and handed over to the Centre Supervisor, who in turn informed
the AIIMS examination control room about the incident. At 11:30 AM on the
same date, four officers from the Crime Branch, Delhi Police came to AIIMS
with the scanned copy of the questions so as to verify as to whether the
questions in the scanned document matched with the original booklet of
AIPGMEE-2012. Upon scrutiny of the documents, it was observed that 2-3
pages of the question booklet appeared to have been scanned, which also
contained the images of a ball pen that is supplied by AIIMS for use by the
candidates appearing in the said examination. Later on, it was revealed
that the AIIMS representative, who was supervising the Noida Centre, had
deposited a seizure report of the mobile phone that had been seized from a
candidate and the said phone was in turn handed over to the Crime branch
officials, who had visited the centre later on and had apprehended the
candidate found to be cheating in the examination. It is further averred in
the affidavit that the Crime Branch, Delhi Police has interrogated the said
candidate and two other candidates and some electronic gadgets were
recovered by the Crime Branch from all the three candidates. It is stated
that the matter continues to remain under investigation of the Crime Branch,
Delhi Police.
4. In view of the averments made in the aforesaid affidavit filed by
respondent No.3/AIIMS, it is apparent that the incident of cheating is found
to have occurred on 8.1.2012 only at one examination centre and that too in
a centre which was situated at Noida, where a mobile phone is stated to
have been recovered from one candidate and some electronic gadgets were
recovered from two candidates. Apart from the aforesaid incident, the
AIPGMEE-2012 appears to have been conducted peacefully all over the
remaining 155 examination centers. A total number of 71,968 candidates
are stated to have applied for sitting in the aforesaid examination and
69,069 candidates had actually appeared in the said examination. It is also
pertinent to note that the examination centre of none of the five petitioners
herein was situated at Noida. Rather, upon inquiry, the Court is informed
that the centre from where petitioner No.1 had sat for taking his
examination was located at Rajouri Garden, that of petitioner No.2 was at
JNU Centre, that of petitioner No.3 was at Vivek Vihar, that of petitioner
No.4 was at Tagore Garden and that of petitioner No.5 was near
Karkardooma Courts.
5. Merely an apprehension expressed by the petitioners that they
would suffer irreparable loss and injury in the event of a scam, which scam
is under investigation by the Crime Branch, Delhi Police, cannot be
considered as sufficient ground for quashing the AIPGMEE-2012 held on
08.01.2012 for 69,069 candidates all over the country. When the magnitude
of the aforesaid incident is still unknown and the investigations are on, the
present petition can only be termed as one based on surmises and
conjectures. As a result, the present petition is dismissed alongwith the
pending application, as being premature and without any basis.
(HIMA KOHLI)
FEBRUARY 10, 2012 JUDGE
rkb
