New Delhi, Nov 05: In a major judgement empowering bodies conducting competitive examinations, the Supreme Court today ruled that agencies conducting tests were entitled to devise their methods for screening of candidates and courts should not interfere in the selection process. The ruling was given by a bench comprising Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice B N Srikrishna while setting aside an Allahabad High Court order quashing the list of selected candidates for civil judge (junior division) exams 2000, provincial civil services (executive branch) main exams 2001 and preliminary exams 2002 prepared by UPPSC.
The High Court had quashed the select list of candidates on the ground that the system of scaling of marks applied by the state public service commission was arbitrary and illegal and had asked the body to prepare fresh list of selected candidates.
The UPPSC in appeal before the apex court had said that it had applied the system of scaling of marks to remove the disparity in the evaluation of 14 examiners who participated in the evaluation of answer sheets and furnished the details as to how the scaling formula was adopted and applied.
Appreciating the advantages of the system, the apex court bench said "we do not think that application of scaling formula to the examinations in question was either arbitrary or illegal. The selection of candidates was done in a better way."
Bureau Report