In Brief
Ashutosh Agnihotri challenged rejection of his examination application received one day late. Though posted by speed post on 10 January 2017, it was delivered to the High Court on 21 January (deadline: 20 January). The applicant was permitted to provisionally sit the exam and subsequently qualified. The Supreme Court held that the candidate could not be blamed for postal delays beyond his control when he had sent the application by speed post. The Court directed that his qualification in the examination override the technical one-day delay, and he be considered for interview. A second petitioner (Preetika Shukla) in a companion petition was dismissed as she did not qualify.
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