Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

The main judgment in the second group of Writ Petitions was delivered by Mohta, J, holding that the provision contained in clause (1) of Regulation 104 that no revaluation of the answer books or supplement shall be done is ultra vires the regulation making power conferred by Section 36 and is also illegal and void on the ground of its being manifestly unreasonable. In the view of the learned Judge, inspection and disclosure will serve no purpose in case the further right of revaluation was denied and inasmuch as the right to disclosure and inspection had been recognised by the judgment just then delivered in the first group of Writ Petitions, the conclusion had necessarily to follow that the Board was obliged to permit revaluation as well. On this reasoning, Regulation 104 (i) insofar as it prohibits revaluation was declared void and a direction was issued to the Board that in the case of those examinees who had applied for revaluation, such facility should also be allowed. By a separate judgment, Deshpande, J. expressed serious doubts and reservations as to whether a further right of revaluation could be spelt out from the regulations, but family agreed with the conclusion expressed by his colleague stating thus: "rather than allow my doubts to prevail and dissent, I prefer to agree with him in the above circumstances". Aggrieved by these judgments rendered in the two groups of cases, the Board has preferred these appeals before this Court after obtaining special leave.

In the light of foregoing discussion, we hold that the conclusion recorded by the Court that clause (3) of Regulation 104 is liable to be struck down on the ground of unreasonableness is totally incorrect and unsustainable.

That takes us to the question concerning the validity of the provision contained in clauses (1) and (3) of Regulation 104, which provides that no revaluation of the answer books or supplements shall be done and that no candidate shall claim or be entitled to claim a revaluation of his answer books. This aspect has been dealt with in the separate judgment of the Division Bench delivered by Mohta, J. On perusal of the judgment, it will be seen that the entire reasoning therein is based on the conclusion recorded in the judgment of Deshpande, J delivered in the first group of cases, that the provision contained in clauses (1) and (3) of Regulation 104 prohibiting the disclosure and inspection of answer books is liable to be struck down on the ground of unreasonableness as well as on the ground of its being ultra vires the scope of the rule making power conferred by Section 36 (1) of the Act. Making this as the starting point of his reasoning, Mohta, J has proceeded to observe that the "logical end of permitting inspection and disclosure of answer books and other documents is to permit revaluation" and that "no useful purpose will be served by having inspection and disclosure in case further right of revaluation is denied". Based on such an approach, the learned Judge has proceeded to state that there was "no justification whatsoever to restrict the obligation of correcting of mistake only to verification and exclude revaluation from the operation of Regulation 102." Accordingly, it was held that clauses (1) and (3) of Regulation 104 insofar as they prohibit revaluation, are also void on the ground of unreasonableness.

As already noticed, the other learned Judge (Deshpande, J) has written a separate short judgment in this group of cases expressing his doubts and reservations concerning the correctness of the conclusion reached by his colleague but he has finally wound up his judgment stating that even though we was diffident of spelling out a right of revaluation from any of the provisions contained in the regulations he would prefer to agree with the judgment prepared by Mohta, J "rather than allow my views to prevail and dissent". Having regard to the substantial nature and general importance of the question and the repercussions that would inevitably be produced by the recognition of the right to demand revaluation in public examinations of every kind conducted by Universities, School Education Boards and even bodies like the Union and State Public Service Commission, it would have been much more appropriate if the learned Judge (Deshpande. J) had independently discussed the question in all its aspects in accordance with his own light or referred the matter to a larger Bench or to a third Judge as the case may be if he felt that the view propounded in the judgment prepared by his colleague was of doubtful correctness. However that may be, we have already held that the reasons stated by the Division Bench in its Judgment in the first group of cases for holding that clause (3) of Regulation 104 insofar as it prohibits disclosure and inspection of answer books and treating them as confidential documents is ultra vires on the ground of its being in excess of the regulation-making power of the Board and is also void on the ground of unreasonableness are all incorrect and unsustainable. The validity of the prohibition against disclosure and inspection having been thus upheld by us, the entirety of the reasoning contained in the judgment of Mehta. J in support of his conclusion invalidating prohibition against revaluation contained in clauses (1) and (3) of Regulation loses its foundation. The view expressed by the learned Judge that Regulation 102 (2) which confers on the Board a suo moto power of amending the results where it is found that such a result has been affected by any error, malpractice, fraud, improper conduct, etc., Will be rendered nugatory and ineffective by the prohibition on revaluation is fallacious and unsound. While discussing the scope of the said regulation, we have pointed out that its purpose and effect is only to confer a suo moto power on the Board to correct errors in cases where irregularities like malpractices, misconduct, fraud, etc. are found out and it does not confer any right on the examinees to demand any correction of the results. In the scheme of the regulations after the publication of the results, the only right which the examinees have in relation to this matter is to ask for a verification of the results under clause (1) of Regulation 104 and the scope of such verification is subject to the limitations imposed in the said clause as well as in clause (3) of the very same regulation.

We are unable to agree with the further reason stated by the High Court that since "every student has a right to receive fair play in examination and get appropriate marks matching his performance" it will be a denial of the right to such fair play if there is to be a prohibition on the right to demand revaluation and unless a right to revaluation is recognised and permitted there is an infringement of rules of fair play. What constitutes fair play depends upon the facts and circumstances relating to each particular given situation. If it is found that every possible precaution has been taken and all necessary safeguards provided to ensure that the answer books inclusive of supplements are kept in safe custody so as to eliminate the danger of their being tampered with and that the evaluation is done by the examiners applying uniform standards with checks and cross-checks at different stages and that measures for detection of malpractice, etc. have also been effectively adopted, in such cases it will not be correct on the part of the Courts to strike down the provision prohibiting revaluation on the ground that it violates the rules of fair play. It is unfortunate that the High Court has not set out in detail in either of its two judgments the elaborate procedure laid down and followed by the Board and the Divisional Boards relating to the conduct of the examinations, the evaluation of the answer books and the compilation and announcement of the results. From the affidavit filed on behalf of the Board in the High Court, it is seen that from the initial stage of the issuance of the hall tickets to the intending candidates right upto the announcement of the results, a well-organised system of verification, checks and counter-checks has been evolved by the Board and every step has been taken to eliminate the possibility of human error on the part of the examiners and malpractices on the part of examinees as well as the examiners in an effective fashion. The examination centres of the Board are spread all over the length and breadth of each Division and arrangements are made for vigilant supervision under the overall supervision of a Deputy Chief Conductor in charge of every sub-centre and at the conclusion of the time set for examination in each paper including the main answer book all the answer books and the supplements have to be tied up by the candidate securely and returned to the Supervisor. But before they are returned to the Supervisor, each candidate has to write out the title page of main answer books in the cages provided for the said particulars, the number of supplements attached to the main answer book. The, Supervisor is enjoined to verify whether the number so written tallies with the actual number of supplements, handed over by the candidate together with his main answer book. After the return of all the answer books to the Deputy Chief Conductor, a tally is taken of the answer looks including supplements used by the candidates by the Stationery Supervisor who is posted by the Board at each sub-centre. This enables the supervisory staff at a sub-centre to verify and ensure that all answer books and supplements issued to the candidates have been turned in and received by the supervisory staff. At this stage of checking and double-checking, if any seat number has been duplicated on the answer books by mistake or by way of deliberate malpractice it can be easily detected and corrective measures taken by the Deputy Chief Conductor or the Chief Conductor. The answer books are then sent by the Deputy Chief Conductor to the Chief Conductor in charge of the main centre. He sorts out the answer books according to the instructions issued by the Board and sends them to the examiners whose names had been furnished in advance except in the case of the science subjects, namely, "mathematics and statistics, physics, chemistry and biology". The answer books in the science subjects are forwarded by the Chief Conductor under proper guard to camps in Pune already notified to the Chief Conductors. The further procedure followed in relation to the valuation of the answer books has been explained in paragraphs 22 to 26 of the counter affidavit dated 10th July 1980 filed in the High Court by the Joint Secretary to the Pune Divisional Board of Secondary Education. We do not consider it necessary to burden this judgment with a recapitulation of all the details furnished in those paragraphs, and it would suffice to state that the procedure evolved by the Board for ensuring fairness and accuracy in evaluation of the answer books has made the system as fool proof as can be possible and it meets with our entire satisfaction and approval. Viewed against this background, we do not find it possible to agree with the views expressed by the High Court that the denial of the right to demand a revaluation constitutes a denial of fair play and is unreasonable. The Board is a very responsible body. The candidates have taken the examination with full awareness of the provisions contained in the Regulations and in the declaration made in the form of application for admission to the examination they have solemnly stated that they fully agree to abide by the regulations issued by the Board. In the circumstances, when we find that all safeguards against errors and malpractices have been provided for, there cannot be said to be any denial of fair play to the examinees by reason of the prohibition against asking for revaluation.