FMGE 2020: Delhi High Court Stays Order Awarding One Extra Mark To Candidates For Incorrect Question

The Delhi High Court on Friday issued an ex parte ad interim stay on the single judge bench order which had ordered for one extra mark to be granted to candidates of the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE), December 2020, in light of an incorrect question in the paper.

A division bench comprising of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh stayed the operation and implementation of the single judge order till September 17, the next date of hearing while dealing with an appeal preferred by the National Board of Examinations challenging the said order.

A single judge bench of Justice Prateek Jalan vide order dated July 5, 2021 directed that all candidates who answered the question incorrectly, should be awarded one extra mark, and also held that all those candidates who have scored 150 or above should be deemed to have qualified the exam.

During the course of hearing on Friday, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh appearing for National Board of Examinations relied on the recent cases decided by the Supreme Court on the subject to support his contentions.

Hearing his submissions, the bench was of the view that the National Board of Examination has a balance of convience in its favour thereby issuing an interim stay on the impugned order.

About the Single Judge Order

The petitioner, an association of doctors who have obtained their degrees from foreign universities contended that the disputed question was technically incorrect as the SRS gives information about all the four parameters mentioned, and therefore there was no one correct answer.

The Court accepted the contention on the basis of an affidavit by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RGI) which stated that the Sample Registration System includes Maternal Mortality Ratio.

On the aspect of judicial review of examinations, Justice Prateek Jalan held that "despite the Court's limited jurisdiction, none of the judgments cited prohibit judicial review altogether. They do leave open a window for challenge, albeit a very small one, in the event that the candidate discharges the onus of showing that a question is patently erroneous."

Title: National Board of Examinations v. Association of MD Physicians