FMGE 2020 : Delhi High Court Awards One Extra Mark To Candidates For Incorrect Question

A single judge bench of Justice Prateek Jalan of the Delhi High Court has ordered for 1 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.

The bench has 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.

Accepting the contention of the petitioner, the Association of MD Physicians that the said question was erroneous, the court ordered, "All candidates must be awarded one mark in lieu of the disputed question."

The extra mark is, as expected, only for the candidates who gave any answer apart from the option given as the correct one by the FMGE board. The court clarified, that those who had marked the answer accepted by FMGE as correct had already got the mark against the question and could not be doubly rewarded for an incorrect or disputed question.

The concerned question was:

"Sample Registration System (SRS) gives information about all except:

a) Birth rate

b) Death rate

c) Maternal Mortality rate

d) Infant mortality rate."

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."

Adv. Adit S Pujari appeared for the Petitioners. The Respondents were represented by Adv. Ruchira Gupta.

[Association of MD Physicians vs. National Board of Examinations]

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