In Brief
The Supreme Court allowed appeals by the State of Uttar Pradesh and the Police Recruitment Board against a High Court judgment that had struck down the final recruitment list for Sub-Inspector and related positions. The issue was whether the Board could apply normalization (statistical equalization) of examination scores at the eligibility stage (50% marks requirement) when exams were held across 29 different batches with different question papers. The Court held that normalization was justified and properly applied at the initial eligibility stage, as it ensured fair comparison across varying difficulty levels. The word 'marks' in the eligibility rule and final selection rule must mean the same thing (normalized scores). The Board acted within its delegated powers with transparency, announcing the method in advance. No mala fides were shown. The Court emphasized restraint in interfering with expert bodies' decisions unless arbitrariness is proven.
The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.