The Supreme Court looking into alleged discrepancies in the Delhi Judicial Services 2014 Examination on Monday decided to have the answer sheets evaluated by a retired apex court judge to allay concerns of corruption and nepotism in the appointments made last year.
A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and PC Pant took the decision while dealing with a PIl filed by Centre for Public Interest litigation (CPIl). The petition alleged that out of 659 candidates, only 15 persons cleared the Mains examination held in October last year. When the results were declared in May this year, the selections were called in question as those selected were kith and kin of judges of Delhi HC. Those who failed included sitting judicial officers who were toppers in their respective states.
The bench said, “We do not accept the suggestion of the petitioner that somebody who is a topper in their respective state should necessarily top the exam. Only papers can suggest the truth.” Taking this view, the bench with the consent of the petitioner and the Registrar General of High Court decided to appoint a retired judge to examine all the 659 answer sheets and conclude whether there was any merit in the petitioner’s allegations.
The Delhi High Court Registrar General represented by advocate AND Rao pointed out that one set of papers was handed to one judge while another judge examined another set of papers. In any event, no two examiners checked one question, Rao said.
But the bench said, “There is something called rationalization of marks. We want to ascertain whether this was done in this case. At best, there may only be a slight margin of error.” The Court did not name the examining judge but posted the matter on Friday to make public its choice giving a hint, “We will appoint the strictest man”.
The bench directed the papers to be evaluated by the retired judge in a space designated in the Delhi HC and the evaluation report to be submitted the Supreme Court.