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7. Shri Ashok Khare, Senior Advocate further submitted on the basis of averments contained in the writ petitions that most of the petitioners secured more than the cut of marks and they are entitled to be declared qualified in the examination in their respective categories. The result of the examination was declared on 15.12.2017 in which it has been shown that the OMR sheet of each of the petitioners had been treated to be invalid on the grounds of invalid registration number/roll number, invalid booklet series, & invalid language column and the OMR sheets of the petitioners have not been evaluated. It has also been claimed that candidatures of 99 petitioners were rejected on the ground of invalid registration number/roll number and only in few cases the candidatures have been rejected on the ground of invalid booklet series and invalid language-II. He submitted that so far as the TET examination is concerned, the same is merely qualifying in nature for being considered for appointment on the post of Assistant Teacher and it is not a competitive examination. No person is going to be affected in any manner in case the OMR sheets of the petitioners are evaluated and their results are declared afresh. It has also been argued that most of the petitioners were initially appointed as Shiksha Mitras and finally absorbed as Assistant Teachers but eventually their appointments were quashed by the Division Bench of this Court and the same was upheld by Hon'ble Apex Court but while deciding the matter relating to Shiksha Mitra Hon'ble Supreme Court had directed that the incumbents are entitled for preferential marks on the basis of their working as Shiksha Mitra for selection as Assistant Teachers. In case the result of the petitioners is not declared, for all practical purposes their one chance stands exhausted due to human error. In the aforesaid circumstances, it is urged that the error was not deliberate and being human error the petitioners may be permitted to mark blank column of the OMR sheets or whatever errors/discrepancies occurred in the OMR sheets, it may be condoned, and the OMR sheet of the petitioners may be reevaluated. He has also referred to the guidelines which refer the responsibility of the class invigilator to ensure filling up all the columns by the individual candidate in accordance with the specification contained in the admit card as well as in the instructions. In support of his submission, he has placed reliance on the judgement of Hon'ble Supreme Court in Price Waterhoue Coopers Private Limited vs. Commissioner of Income Tax, Kolkata-I and another1. Relevant paras 14 and 15 are reproduced herein below:-

2. Use Black/Blue Ballpoint Pen only. Use of Pencil/Gel pen is strictly prohibited. Do not darken the Board copy and candidate's copy separately.
3. Do not fold or put any stray marks anywhere on the OMR answer sheet. Use of any other paper, calculating machine, mobile etc. is prohibited and will lead to disqualification.
4. Your OMR answer sheet will be evaluated through electronic scanning process. Incomplete or incorrect entries may render your OMR answer sheet invalid.
5. Carefully fill in all the necessary particulars on the OMR answer sheet. Change of OMR answer sheet is not permitted.
8. Candidates must hand over the OMR Answer Sheet without separating the three copies to the invigilator at the end of examination. Invigilator will hand over the Candidate's copy after separating it. The candidate can taken away the Candidate's copy of OMR Answer Sheet with him/her.
9. In case of any discrepancy in following the instructions, candidate's OMR Answer Sheet will be rendered invalid and will not be evaluated."

17. This much is reflected from the aforesaid instructions in question that instruction no.2 of the OMR sheet in question specifically requires a candidate to indicate his category, roll number, registration number, question booklet series at the space provided on the OMR answer sheet. The Question Booklet contains 150 questions and each question has four alternative answers. The number of questions attempted must be written in words and figures in the specified place on the OMR sheet. In case of any ambiguity in Hindi version, English version shall be considered authentic. Para-4 of the instruction provides that the OMR answer sheet will be evaluated through electronic scanning process and incomplete or incorrect entries may render your OMR answer sheet invalid. In paras 5 and 6 it is advised to the candidates to carefully fill in all the necessary particulars on the OMR answer sheet and change of OMR answer sheet is not permitted. If any candidate darkens more than one circle in his answer, his answer would be treated as wrong. The candidates have to answer questions from the multiple choice of answers 1, 2, 3 and 4 and select the right answer of each question and darken the correct circle on the OMR answer sheet. Once the circle is darkened, then changes are not permitted and use of eraser, nail, blade, white fluid/whitener etc. to smudge, scratch, damage in any manner on the OMR answer sheet during examination was strictly prohibited.

18. Instruction no.9 specifically states that in case of any discrepancy in following the instructions, candidate's OMR sheet will be rendered invalid and will not be evaluated. It is in view of the same that the answer sheets of the petitioners were not evaluated. The OMR sheet was required to be filled up by the candidates correctly and this is the material in the OMR sheet on the basis of which the result has been prepared by the Computer. If the petitioners failed to darken a particular column or a particular circle or a particular bubble correctly, they cannot be permitted to correct the OMR sheets after the declaration of the result nor can any such direction be issued to the respondents to correct the OMR sheet. The petitioners have also requested for doing manual evaluation of the papers. When the evaluation is required to be done by the Computer on the basis of the shading/darkening of the circles in the OMR sheet, the question of giving any direction for manual evaluation merely to assist the petitioners is not permissible. It is a question of principle and policy of a particular selection irrespective of the fact whether it is a qualifying examination or a competitive examination. Such instructions are issued to ensure fairness in the examination.