The Himachal Pradesh High Court had ordered production of the answer sheet and directed its re-evaluation and on that basis directed the Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission to appoint the respondent, Mukesh Thakur, to the post of a Civil Judge (Junior Division). The HPPSC filed appeal before the Supreme Court against this order.
Allowing the appeal, the Bench said, “It is a matter of chance that the High Court was examining the answer sheets relating to law. Had it been other subjects like physics, chemistry and mathematics, we are unable to understand as to whether such a course could have been adopted by the High Court.”
The Bench while setting aside the judgment of High Court, pointed out that there was no provision in the Rules for re-evaluation and since the respondent failed to secure the qualifying marks, he was not called for the interview.
Writing the judgment, Justice Chauhan pointed out that if there was a discrepancy in framing the question or evaluation of the answer, it could be for all the candidates appearing in the examination and not for the candidate concerned who approached the court.
