The High Court of Delhi on Wednesday admitted a petition seeking direction to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to publish the answer key of the preliminary examination of Civil Services Examination 2023 before the declaration of final result.
Filed by Advocate Rajeev Kumar Dubey on behalf of 17 civil service aspirants, the petition challenged the UPSC’s decision to publish the answer key after the completion of process.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Chandra Dhari Singh admitted the plea on the grounds that merely asking for publication of the answer key did not amount to interference in the process of recruitment.
It noted that the prayer requesting for disclosure of the answer key would entail adjudication of fundamental rights and legal rights of the candidates and that where such enforcement of rights was sought, the court cannot look the other way.
The High Court also took in view the fact that the disqualified candidates neither challenged their disqualification, nor the examination process, but moved the High Court with the request for publication of answer key before the completion of the entire process.
It observed that such a prayer could not be said to per se leading to a dispute with respect to recruitment under Article 323A of the Constitution of India or under the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985.
Once it was held that it did not fall within the ambit of a ‘dispute’ or ‘complaint’ with respect to recruitment, it cannot be said that the Tribunal had the exclusive jurisdiction to entertain the said dispute, it added.
However, the Single-Judge Bench clarified that the remarks made in the order will not impact any other proceedings pending before any other court.
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