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The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition impugning the final answer keys of the Delhi Judicial Service Preliminary Examination, 2022, which was declared after considering the objections raised by various candidates.

According to the petitioner-aspirants, answers to certain questions were not the 'appropriate answers' and therefore, the evaluation of answer sheets was flawed.

To examine the scope of judicial review, the bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Amit Mahajan considered cases where challenge to evaluation of the test papers was premised on an assertion that the answer keys are erroneous.

The Division bench relied on the case of Kanpur University v. Samir Gupta to note that unless it is found that there can be no vestige of doubt that the answer key is incorrect, the court would not intervene with the examination.

High Court further opined that merely because the Court is prima facie of the view that an answer to a question is erroneous, the same would not necessarily warrant interference in the evaluation process.

"It is always possible that certain questions may have the propensity to confuse the candidates. It may also be possible to have another view regarding the correct answer. However, the same is required to be considered by the examining body and cannot be the subject matter of review on merits. Doing so, in effect, places this Court as an appellate body on the decision of the examining body taking its normal course. This is not the scope of judicial review under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, 1949...", observed the division bench.

Court also noted that since the questions related to the subject of law, there was always a possibility for the parties to debate the same.

While dismissing the plea, Court also noted that the authorities conducting the exams had followed the procedure of inviting objections, and the petitioner-aspirants had full opportunity to submit their objections and they did so.

Also, the division bench found that the objections raised by the petitioners were duly considered by sufficiently qualified persons (in fact, a committee of Judges of the Court) before the answer key, including the impugned answer keys, was published and there was no allegation of any malice or lack of bona fide.

Case title: VIVEK KUMAR YADAV vs. REGISTRAR GENERAL, DELHI HIGH COURT