[Rajasthan Judicial Services] High Court Issues Notices In Plea Challenging 2021 Prelims Answer Key & For Non-Reduction Of Cut-Off Marks For ST Widow Category

Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice Birendra Kumar, ruled,

"Issue notice of writ petitions as well as stay applications to respondents by registered post as well as usual mode on payment of PF and notices on or before 31.01.2022.

Notices are made returnable within two weeks.

List these matters on 16.02.2022 for further orders on reply, admission as well as on stay.

A copy of this order shall go along with the notices.

A copy of this order be also placed on records of all the petitions."

Multiple questions were challenged by the petitioner on the grounds that such questions were either wrongly deleted, wrongly reframed, out of syllabus or answers provided were not in conformity with the recent amendment in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 vide notification dated 07.08.2021.

The petitioner alleged that she was awarded 50 marks, yet she has not been selected for main examination by subjecting her to discrimination. She alleged that for the first time different criteria of cut off marks has been provided for various categories/subcategories and though reduced cut off marks have been provided to General Widow as 45, no such reduced cut off marks have been provided for Scheduled Tribe Widow.

The petitioner also argued that the rules of the game have changed after commencement of the process of selection and such a course of action of prescribing different reduced cut off marks is neither in the rules governing selection process, nor in the Advertisement.

Similar Plea Before Principal Bench

Notably, on Monday, the Principal Bench at Jodhpur also issued notice in a similar writ petition seeking directions to the respondents to rectify the final answer key of Civil Judge Cadre of Rajasthan Judicial Services (Preliminary Examination) and to award bonus marks to all the candidates.

The bench comprising Justice Vinod Kumar Bharwani and Justice Sandeep Mehta, observed,

"Issue notice of the writ petition as well as stay petition to the respondents. 'Dasti' service is permitted. Rule is made returnable on 17.2.2022."

Adv. Arpit Samaria, appearing on behalf of the petitioners, also sought relief for recomputation of marks, and thereby to prepare a list of eligible candidates by including all such candidates therein, who secured more marks than the last candidate originally allowed to appear in the main examination. He prayed that apart from the originally allowed candidates, newly included candidates be also permitted in the eligibility list to appear in the main examination.

Dismissal of the Challenge by the Principal Bench

On 28.01.2022, the Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur had dismissed a plea challenging the final results of the Civil Judge Cadre of Rajasthan Judicial Services (Preliminary Examination).

The plea was filed by one Ashwini Chaturvedi. She had challenged the administration's decision on the correct choice in relation to question No.80 and its decision to delete question No.81, through which the petitioner missed out clearing the RJS preliminary examination's cut-off only by 1 mark.

A division bench of Justice Akil Kureshi and Justice Madan Gopal Vyas, observed,

" We do not think that the petitioner has made out any case for interference. As is well settled through series of judgments of the Supreme Court, interference by the High Court in specialized fields where recruitment is being made through specialized agencies, should be the minimum."

The court, while relying on Ran Vijay Singh and others v. State of Uttar Pradesh, observed that the correctness of the questions or answers, the role of the High Court in exercise of writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India would be extremely limited. Unless it is pointed out that either the question or the answer is completely and clearly wrong, the High Court would not overrule a well considered decision of the expert body, added the court.

Also Read: Rajasthan Judicial Services: High Court Dismisses Plea Challenging Answer Key Of 2021 Prelims Exam