Karnataka High Court Dismisses Challenge To Re-Exam For Police Sub-Inspectors Recruitment

The Karnataka High Court has dismissed a batch of petitions challenging the re-exam for the recruitment of 545 police sub-inspectors. The court has directed the state government to conduct the re-examination through an independent agency, without charging any fresh fee to the candidates.

A division bench of Justice P S Dinesh Kumar and Justice T G Shivashaker Gowda dismissed the petitions. It said “The order passed by the State Government, in the facts and circumstances of this case, is just and appropriate and does not call for any interference.”

The petitioners had challenged the order of the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal rejecting their applications. The primary contention raised by the petitioners was that to direct the State Government to segregate the cases of those involved in the malpractice and complete the recruitment process in respect of other candidates.

Further it was said that out of 545 selected candidates, only 53 candidates have been named in the charge sheet. Out of them, 52 candidates have been debarred vide Order dated 20.07.2023. There are no allegations against the remaining candidates.

It was argued that the Government Order is purely based on the preliminary observations. There is no definite finding of fact recorded by any authority or Court holding that petitioners, whom he is representing are tainted. It is settled by various authorities of the Apex Court that efforts must be made for segregation of tainted cases. The Government Order does not disclose as to how many candidates are tainted and why segregation is not possible.

The state government opposed the plea saying the malpractice has taken place in two ways. Firstly by marking the OMR sheets by obtaining the answers from an outside source using Bluetooth devices. Secondly by tampering with the OMR answer sheets after the examination.

Further it was submitted that the OMR answer sheet tampering has been done at two levels. First at the level of examination centers after handing over the OMR answer sheets to the invigilators. Second at the recruitment headquarters i.e., in the Office of the Head of the Recruitment Cell (ADGP), where the OMR answer sheets were kept in safe custody. In the facts of this case, segregation of tainted and untainted candidates is not possible, it was submitted.

It was further submitted that one of the accused persons is the ADGP, Recruitment who was arrested during the course of investigation and remained in jail for some time. The Head of the Recruitment himself being one of the accused, the tampering/manipulation of OMR answer sheets having taken place in his office, the confidence of the general public in the recruitment process has completely eroded, it was argued.

The bench referring to the prosecution case said “Admittedly, the selection is for the disciplined uniformed Police Service who will be entrusted with Law and Order, Crime detection, security etc. Therefore, even if segregation may be remotely possible the same is not worthy of consideration.”

Noting the admission procedure and the allegations in the case the bench said, “Admittedly, a very senior IPS Officer in the rank of ADGP was the Head of Recruitment Wing. He has been arrested. This clearly indicates that the investigating authority had found prima facie material against the ADGP’s culpability.”

Rejecting the petitioners contention that petitioners were prepared for appropriate action including removal, in case they were found guilty of any malpractice; and they were ready to file an affidavit in this Court to that effect it said, “We are not persuaded to accept the said plea because the allegations of malpractice are very grave in nature which include involvement of the Head of the Recruitment Wing, tampering of OMR answer sheets at different levels. The learned Advocate General is right in his submission that trust and confidence upon the Police by the general public is also of paramount importance.”

Taking into account that candidates have used Bluetooth devices in the examination hall and some of them were also arrested, the court observed “This leads to a further inference that either the candidates were given early access to the question paper or the question paper was leaked before the examination. Otherwise, it is highly improbable that the external party could relay the answers within time. It is also highly probable that such leaked question papers may have been circulated widely. In such a situation, it is difficult to record a specific finding whether the candidates had early access or the question paper was leaked. But in any event, it is not in dispute that a scam has taken place with the involvement of several persons including an ADGP.”

The bench then opined that the evaluation of academic achievement or the suitability of a candidate for public employment necessitates an examination process that adheres to principles of rationality. "Rationality stands as a fundamental requirement within the realm of public administration.The decision to cancel an examination is an extreme step usually taken in the interest of maintaining the integrity of the examination process and to ensure absolute fairness to all the candidates both successful and unsuccessful.”

Further the court said that in 2016, the Karnataka State Pre-University Board had conducted the examination in Chemistry paper thrice due to paper leakage for the Second PUC students. “Unless a categorical finding is recorded to the effect that there was no malpractice by ‘use of Bluetooth’, the wisdom of the executive in canceling the examinations cannot be found fault with. Further, if any finding is recorded with regard to ‘use of Bluetooth’ by this Court in these proceedings that would amount to pre-judging the issue involved in various criminal trials which exercise cannot be and should not be undertaken in proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.”

The examination held in 2021 was written by 54,289 candidates. The recruitment exam to fill the posts of 545 PSIs ran into controversy after it was revealed that the OMR (optical mark recognition) answer sheets were tampered with to benefit some candidates.

Following the scam and arrest of many police officers and candidates, 52 candidates involved in the scandal were debarred.

The police registered two FIRs and arrested over 30 people in the case, including several candidates and police officers. The highest ranking officer accused in the scam is the then ADGP Amrit Paul (IPS).

Appearance: Senior advocates P.S.Rajagopal, K.N. Phanindra, D.R. Ravishankar and Advocate Santosh Nagarale for petitioners.

Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty for Respondents.

Senior advocate Reuben Jacob for KPSC

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