STATE OF TAMIL NADU Vs. A. KALAIMANI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) The written examination was of objective type. A printed book was given to the candidates in the examination hall. The printed book is known as Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheet. After completion of the written examination, the OMR sheets were scanned in the office of the Board. The original OMR answer sheets were kept in the safe custody in the office of the Board.

(3.) The scanned copies of the OMR sheets were sent to M/s Datatech Methodex Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi (hereinafter referred to as the 'Agency') for evaluation and for preparation of the final list of the candidates who qualified for the certificate verification. The evaluation was done by the Agency and the list was sent to the Board. The merit list of the candidates called for certificate verification in the ratio of 1:2 was released on 07.11.2017. At that stage, a complaint was made to the Prime Minister's Office on 17.11.2017 as well as the Board on 21.11.2017 alleging large scale malpractices in the written examination and requesting a probe into the complaints of tampering with the OMR sheets. To verify the genuineness of the complaint made to the Prime Minister's Office, Mr. Shaik Dawood Nazzar representing the Agency was instructed to send the scanned images of the OMR sheets of the candidates whose names were mentioned in the complaint. Certain discrepancies were found on comparison of the scanned copies of the OMR sheets with the original OMR sheets. Immediately thereafter, the System Manager of the Agency was asked to re-evaluate the scanned images of the OMR sheets of the candidates called for certificate verification from the Hard Disk which was handed over to the Board. After re-evaluation, discrepancies were found in the entries of 109 candidates who were called for certificate verification. Further scrutiny of the answer sheets revealed further discrepancies in the marks of 225 candidates. On a deeper scrutiny, the Board found that 196 candidates have been the beneficiaries of the fraudulent alteration of the marks.