Distributing Marks Of Deleted Questions Equally Among Remaining Questions Instead Of Awarding Bonus Marks Is Not Discriminatory: Rajasthan HC

Rajasthan High Court has reiterated that distributing the marks of deleted questions proportionately in the remaining questions of the same subject does not discriminate between candidates since it could not be preempted which question shall be deleted and the disputed questions had been deleted for all aspirants.

The bench of Justice Vinit Kumar Mathur was hearing a petition filed by aspirants to the post of Junior Accountant and Tehsil Revenue Accountant who had challenged the methodology of the concerned state department in adjusting the marks of deleted questions of a particular subject in the examination.

It was the case of the petitioners that adding the marks of deleted questions in the questions of the same subject was faulty. The marks for those deleted questions should either be removed entirely from the total marking or bonus marks should be awarded to all the candidates.

Opposed to this, the counsel for the respondents argued that since the examination for the post was divided into subjects having specific weightage and number of questions, the methodology was adopted to keep parity in the matter of distribution of marks in each subject.

It was further submitted that no prejudice was caused to the petitioners by this methodology since even the respondents were not aware in advance of the questions that shall be deleted. Hence, the system was totally transparent and fair.

The Court aligned with the arguments put forth by the respondents and referred to a coordinate bench decision of the Court, Vinod Kumar v State of Rajasthan & Ors., which had dealt with a similar question and ruled the following:

“Once The respondents had distributed the questions subject-wise, their action in distributing the marks of deleted questions subject-wise cannot be faulted, inasmuch as, advantage of deletion of questions by way of enhancement of maximum marks for each question must be given subject-wise, so that a candidate who has attempted particular questions in a particular subject would not suffer on account of the deleted questions. If the marks pertaining to deleted questions were to be distributed equally in all the remaining questions, the over all maximum marks of other subjects would increase changing the weightage provided by the respondents, which would not be justified.”

The Court observed that the methodology adopted by the respondents in proportionately distributing the marks of deleted questions in the same subject did not make any discrimination between the candidates since it could not be pre-empted which question would be deleted. Hence, the system adopted was just, fair and impartial.

Accordingly, the petition was dismissed.

Title: Surendra Choudhary & Ors. v Rajasthan Staff Selection Board & Ors.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Raj) 255

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