PRANAV VERMA vs THE REGISTRAR GENERAL OF THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH

Bench: 3 — S.A. Bobde, B.R. Gavai, Surya Kant

In Brief

The Supreme Court examined a writ petition challenging the evaluation of a judicial services examination in Haryana where only 9 out of 1,195 candidates qualified for the viva-voce stage. While the Court found the selection process and evaluation method were fair and uniform, it held the marking was exceptionally strict, resulting in only 0.702% pass rate. Invoking Article 142, the Court awarded 20 grace marks in Civil Law-I and 10 marks in Civil Law-II to all candidates, allowing more qualified candidates to proceed to the interview stage. The Court rejected requests for complete re-evaluation and disclosure of marks before viva-voce, holding that moderation was the appropriate remedy and that concealing written marks preserves interview integrity.

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Constitutional Law—Article 14 Constitutional Law—Article 32 Constitutional Law—Article 142 Judicial Services Examinations Recruitment and Selection Educational Assessment and Evaluation Administrative Law Examination Procedures

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