In Brief

A government examination for Gram Panchayat Adhikari included a question asking who was the Panchayati Raj Minister of Uttar Pradesh, with the correct answer being Shri Kailash Yadav. However, the minister died 12 days before the examination, making the answer incorrect on the test date. The Commission awarded marks to candidates who selected that option (correct when the question was set) and to those who did not attempt it, but not to those selecting other wrong options. The respondent, who selected a different wrong option and fell one mark short of the cutoff, challenged this via writ petition. The Supreme Court upheld the Commission's differentiation as rational, holding that in judicial review, the Court should not second-guess an examining authority's decision unless it is palpably perverse.

The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.