MANOVIRAJ SINGH Vs. UNIVERSITY OF DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner in W.P(C) No.5074/2013 as well as the petitioners in W.P(C) No.5424/2013, appeared in the entrance examination conducted by the respondent no.1 ­ University of Delhi for admission to its Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) Course for the academic year 2013-2014. The result of the said test was declared on 19.7.2013. The answer key in respect of all the test, book sets was also displayed on the website of the university on the same date. The case of the petitioners before this Court is that the answers contained in the answer key in respect of 9 numbers of questions were patently wrong answers, as a result of which, the correct answers given by them were marked ,,wrong answers and they were also given negative marking on the ground that they had given wrong answers to the questions whereas in fact the answers given by them were correct. The petitioner ­ Mr. Manoviraj Singh in W.P(C) No. 5074/2013 was given overall rank 1021 and the category rank of 1005. According to him, if he is given credit for the correct answers and the negative marks wrongly given to him are excluded, his overall rank would be 709 and the category rank would be 699.

(2.) THERE are as many as 11 petitioners in W.P(C) No. 5424/2013 and they also have similar grievances. According to them, had they been given credit for the correct answers and not been given the negative marks for the answers which were taken as ,,wrong answers despite actually being the correct answers, their ranks would have been much higher. Being aggrieved from denial of admission, the petitioners are before this Court seeking review of their result and directions to the university to admit them to the aforesaid course.

(3.) AS noted earlier, the respondent ­ university has conceded that the answers contained in the answer key in respect of Q.No.22 and 23 were wrong. Despite that, the marks have been awarded to the candidates on the basis of wrong answers to the aforesaid questions. This according to the learned counsel for the university happened because the mistake was noted at a later date and according to the university, this would have made no change in the overall rank of the candidates. In my view, the plea taken by the university has no merit. It is quite possible that one or more candidates, chose a correct option in respect of both the Q.Nos.22 and 23. In their case, since the answers contained in the answer key were different from the correct answers, they would have been deprived of marks in respect of both the questions. Moreover, they would also have got negative marks for choosing incorrect options.