An expert committee will now review the new pattern for UPSC exams that adversely affected the Hindi medium students by making English a compulsory language. While hearing a PIl against the pattern, the Delhi High Court ordered setting up of an expert committee to look into the matter.
Retired Professor Dinanath Batra had filed the petition through advocate Monika Arora alleging that as per the new pattern adopted in 2011, "the test of English language Comprehension Skills worth 22.5 marks adversely affects the Hindi and other regional language speaking candidates taking the said exam."
The petitioner had contended that the compulsion to secure 22.5 marks in English language has affected the results negatively by around 5 to 10 per cent. Taking note of this fact, Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw disposed of the petition by directing the Central Government to constitute an appropriate committee/body, within three months, if not already in place, for examination of the questions raised by the petitioners.
"In consultation with the UPSC, the Central Government should, within nine months, take a decision on the nature of the test of knowledge of English language in the Civil Services Examination i.e. whether it is to be only qualifying or competitive or mixture of both," added the order.
The new pattern which is being implemented from 2011 is depriving the candidates from rural and semi-urban backgrounds from getting a fair chance and level playing field in the examination. The petitioner got support from outside the city too as an advocate from Mumbai intervened in the matter saying that such a pattern is an attempt to reduce the significance of Hindi, the official language of the country.
Naresh Kaushik, Counsel for the Government argued that English is a mandatory language till Class X in all schools but the petitioner countered it saying that most Government schools teach English from Class V onwards which doesn't put them at par with schools where English is compulsory.