Recently, Delhi High Court (DHC) in Ajay Singh v. Union of India has granted relief to a Petitioner appearing for the Judge Advocate General (JAG) exam by rounding off his LLB Examination marks to meet the eligibility cut-off. The court also directed the Central Government to allow the Petitioner to apply again for the said exam with the rounded off figure.
On 28th July, 2017 an official notification was published on the website "www.joinindianarmy.nic.in‟ calling upon law graduates to apply online for the JAG branch of the Indian Army in which the eligibility criterion was 55% marks in a recognised degree in law. The Petitioner herein having obtained only 54.95% marks in his LLB, had fallen short by 0.05% to be eligibile for the interview.
The Petitioner approached the DHC for directions to the Respondents to allow him to be called for an interview for the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Branch of the Indian Army by treating 54.95% marks obtained by him in the LL.B. Examination as 55%.
The Delhi High Court relied upon the principle of "rounding off‟ which has been recognised in State of U.P v. Pawan Kumar Tiwari (2005) 2 SCC 10 by the SC:
"... The rule of rounding off based on logic and common sense is: if a part is one half or more, its value shall be increased to one and if a part is less than half then its value shall be ignored. 46.50 should have been rounded off to 47 and not to 46 as has been done."
The Division Bench comprising of Justices S. Muralidhar and Talwant Singh directed the Respondents to treat the 54.95% marks secured by the Petitioner in the LL.B. Examination on the principle of rounding as 55% as the difference in the Petitioner's case is a mere 0.05% which should not prevent him from applying, thus making him eligible to apply for the JAG Branch.
Moreover, the Court directed the government to either open an online portal to enable the Petitioner to fill up the form by indicating the percentage of marks obtained by him as 55 or permit the Petitioner to submit his application manually indicating the percentage of the marks obtained in the LL.B.degree as 55%, thereby allowing the Petition.
Read the Order:
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