Andhra Pradesh High Court - Amravati
Mohammed Abdul Rawoof Shaik, vs The State Of Ap on 22 January, 2020
Author: T. Rajani
Bench: T. Rajani
SMT JUSTICE T. RAJANI
WRIT PETITION No. 19911 of 2019
ORDER:
This petition is filed, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, by the petitioner to declare the action of the second respondent in refusing to evaluate the petitioner Group I Services (Notifn.No.27/2018) Paper-I (GS/IG/100) answer sheet, as illegal.
2. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader for General Administration for first respondent and the learned Standing Counsel for Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission for the second respondent.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner has appeared for Group I Services and while answering the OMR sheet, he has forgotten to bubble the circle in the Test Booklet Series. He addressed a letter to the Secretary, Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission stating that he has been not selected in the released results, though he has secured marks in the range of 135-140, much higher than the expected cut off-marks. In respect of the said letter, a certificate was issued to the petitioner, marking a copy of the same to the Chief Superintendent, 15007-Sri Chaitanya Junior Mahila Kalasala, certifying that in the preliminary examination of APPSC Group I services conducted on 26.05.2019, the petitioner was seated in Hall No.E3-14 and allotted Test Booklet Series 'D'. The petitioner had forgetten to mark the Test Booklet Series 2 code at Part C of the Answer Sheet during the examination. A copy of the seating arrangement showing the Test Booklet Codes is said to have been enclosed with the said letter. Hence, recommendation was made to consider the petitioner's GS/IG/100 (Paper I) answer sheet of the APPSC Preliminary Exam for evaluation as per Test Booklet Series 'D'. Subsequent to the said certificate, the impugned order i.e., rejected list, in which the name of the petitioner at serial No.76 was found, came to be passed. Assailing the same, the petitioner comes before this Court.
4. The learned counsel for the petitioner relies on the order, dated 03.06.2019, of the Division Bench of Honourable High Court of Telangana, Hyderabad in W.A.No.1525 of 2018 and batch, wherein similar issue came up for consideration. The Court dealt with Telangana State Technical Committee's recommendations, which are as follows:
"1) The errors were committed while making entries in the upper part of the OMR in the Roll No. and Test Booklet Series No. which is general information of the candidate and in the middle part of the OMR, which is related to the performance of the examination and the bottom most part of OMR which captures the name, signature of the candidate and the invigilator.
(a) If the candidates have made some mistakes while filling up the information in the top most part of the OMR which is related to the general information boxes, such mistakes may be addressed by verifying the details of the candidates with reference to the other parallel records viz;
Nominal Rolls, Absentee statements and seating plans etc and they may be resolved and their performances may be considered after resolving the corrections.
(b) If the candidates committed mistakes like erasures, corrections, multiple bubbling or no bubbling while filling up the information in the middle part of the OMR sheet, as this part is 3 related to the performance of the candidate, such mistakes need not be considered with relation to those questions where the above mistakes had occurred.
(c) In the bottom most part of the OMR which captures the information of the candidate and invigilator viz; name and signatures, if there are no signatures or name of the candidate or invigilator, then such cases may be resolved and their performances may be considered after resolving the corrections
2) As regards the administrative handling of the OMRs and TBs (exchange or rearrangement in some case) most probably due to the mistaken belief regarding the mismatch aforementioned- it is possible that the following developments took place:
a) Retaining the QB (TB) as it is and rearranging the OMR sheet within first few minutes after commencement of the examination. The Committee feels that such handling cannot be regarded as a malpractice as it had not affected the performance of the candidates, therefore the OMR may be valued after making corrections technically, if the particulars could be crosschecked and verified with independent information like entries in ICR (imaging), Nominal Rolls, and also the seating plans apart from the reports sent by the chief superintendents wherever necessary.
b) Retaining the OMR sheet issued but rearranging the TB."
5. The Division Bench, while allowing the writ petition, directed that the Public Service Commission shall go by the report of the Technical Committee, dated 09.03.2017, and the recommendations of the Sub-Committee. Though no such technical committee is appointed in the State of Andhra Pradesh, it can be seen that the certificate shows that the answer paper of the petitioner can be evaluated with the help of the data that is available with the respondents. The recommendations of the technical committee mentioned above would show that the errors pertaining to Test Booklet Series number pertains to 4 general information of the candidate and that it is not of material part.
6. Hence, in the above circumstances, this Court, in the interest of justice, deems it fit to direct the respondents to evaluate the paper of the petitioner with the help of the documents and the data available with the respondents, with regard to the Test Booklet Series, which was issued to the petitioner, within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
7. The writ petition is, accordingly, allowed. There shall be no order as to costs.
As a sequel, the miscellaneous applications, if any pending, shall stand closed.
___________ T. RAJANI, J Dated 22.01.2020 Note: LR copy to be marked.
(B/o.) SPR 5 SMT JUSTICE T. RAJANI WRIT PETITION No.19911 of 2019 Dated 22.01.2020 Note: L.R. copy to be marked.
Furnish C.C. by 24.01.2020 (B/o) SPR