Candidates appearing in the civil service examinations do not have a right to know the identity of their examiners, held the Supreme Court in a judgment pronounced on Thursday.
Putting this restriction on information sought under Right to Information Act, a bench of Justices MY Eqbal and Arun Mishra felt that disclosing the name of the examiner can have “dire consequences”.
It said, “If we allow disclosing name of the examiners in every exam, the unsuccessful candidates may try to take revenge from the examiners for doing their job properly.” On the flip side too, the Court felt that a situation may arise where the potential candidates may try to contact the disclosed examiners for any “potential gain by illegal means” in the next year’s exam.
The apex court’s decision had settled the law after differing views expressed by two High Courts - Kerala and Uttar Pradesh. Although both High Courts allowed candidates access to answer sheets, marks scored and interview results, Kerala High Court even allowed the plea for disclosure of examiner’s identity. However, the Allahabad High Court did not agree with the Kerala HC on this issue.
The Bench observed, “The disclosure of the identity of examiners is in the least interest of the general public and also any attempt to reveal the examiner’s identity will give rise to dire consequences.” The court was of the view that the Public Service Commission maintains a relationship of trust (fiduciary relationship) with the examiner which is confidential.
“The Commission has reposed trust on the examiners that they will check the exam papers with utmost care, honesty and impartially and, similarly, the examiners have faith that they will not be facing any unfortunate consequences for doing their job properly,” the Bench observed.