Madras High Court Disapproves Of TNPSC Invalidating Candidate's Answer For Writing 'Jai Hind' At End Of Essay

Justice Battu Devanand of the Madurai bench observed that observed that Jai Hindi which meant victory to India was a commonly uttered slogan whenever patriotic fervour was invoked to the motherland. The court also noted that since the essay was to be on the importance and conservation of natural resources, writing Jai Hind was very relevant and appropriate to the question and it could not be treated as an impertinent remark.

“Those persons, who are having the idea of “patriotism”, definitely safeguard the natural resources for the benefit of the future generations. Besides that, natural resources are related to the nature. There is no any dispute that we have to live with the nature. As such, while writing essay, on the issue of importance and conservation of natural resources, at conclusion writing as “Jai Hind – Let us live united with nature” by the petitioner is very relevant and appropriate to the question and as such, the said writing cannot be treated as impertinent remarks or to give some indication to the examiner about her identity,” the court observed.

The petitioner, Kalpana had approached the court to declare the invalidation of her answer paper as illegal and to consider her for appointment to the posts included in Combined Civil Services Examination-II Group II Services. Kalpana informed the court that upon inquiry, she came to know that her answer paper in Part-B of the examination was invalidated since she had allegedly written something which was irrelevant to the question.

The standing counsel for the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission submitted that Kalpana had violated the instruction given to the candidates appearing for descriptive type examination by writing “Jai Hind – Let us live united with nature” at the end of the essay which was irrelevant to the question.

The court, however, noted that only a competent examiner could decide whether the words “Jai Hind- Let us live united with nature” could be seen as concluding remarks for an essay on conservation of nature. The court observed that the TNPSC could not take a decision and conclude that the words was irrelevant to the essay.

“Only the competent examiner can decide whether the words written as “Jai Hind - Let us live united with nature” can be considered as the concluding remarks to the answer to the question in Part-B, which was an issue with regard to the conservation of natural resources. The respondent cannot took a decision invalidating the answer paper of the petitioner coming to a conclusion that the said words written by the petitioner at the conclusion of the essay are impertinent,” the court noted.

The court noted that while writing the essay on conservation, a young scholar would naturally become emotional and may spontaneously feel patriotic and in such moment it was natural to end the essay with a patriotic slogan. The court added that the same cannot be seen as a tacit signal of attempting any malpractice.

Thus, the court directed the TNPSC to validate Kalpana’s answer papers and award marks and if she secured the requisite mark, appoint her to the post included in the Combined Civil Services Examination-II Group-II Services within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of order copy.

Counsel for Petitioner: Mr.G.Karthik

Counsel for Respondent: Mr.V.Panneer Selvam Standing Counsel

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 342

Case Title: M.Kalpana v The Secretary

Case No: W.P.(MD) No.433 of 2017