A ARUN THAMBURAJ REP BY HIS POWER OF ATTORNEY AGENT T ASHOK Vs. SECRETARY UNION PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION DHOLPUR HOUSE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE writ petition poses the following questions for our consideration:

(2.) THE writ petition arises under the following circumstances. THE petitioner wrote the Civil Services Examination, 2010 conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (for short, "the UPSC"). THE preliminary examination consisted of two papers viz., (a) Optional subject and (b) General studies. THE petitioner opted to take the examination in the subject Zoology. After the examination, he was awarded the following marks: Subjects Marks Secured Essay 111/200 General Studies 288/600 Geography 349/600 Zoology: Zoology I 86/300 Zoology II 111/300 He was called for interview and he was awarded 215/300 marks. It is the contention of the petitioner that he had a very good academic record right from schooling to medical graduation and he is a gold medalist. He had secured 93% in Class X examination with a total of 928/1000, particularly 149/150 marks in Biology subject. He had secured 98% in Class XII examination with a total of 1171/1200, particularly 200/200 marks in Chemistry subject, 199/200 marks in Physics subject and 99/100 in Zoology subject. He had also received the Hon'ble Chief Minister's special scholarship and he was awarded the Best Outgoing Student (2003-09) in the medical graduation and received gold medals in Obstetrics & Gynaecology and General Surgery and secured distinction in Pharmacology, Pathology, Otorhinolaryngology. After completion of medical graduation and despite the fact that he had obtained distinction, he had chosen to opt for Civil Services Examination and therefore he joined a leading coaching institute (Evolution) at New Delhi, where he bagged the first rank in all the Zoology tests with high marks. It is the case of the petitioner therefore that the award of 86/300 marks and 111/300 marks in Zoology I and II subject by the UPSC is far below his expectations. Hence, he made an application under the Right to Information Act to the UPSC for re-evaluation and re-totalling and to verify whether all the additional answer scripts used by the petitioner were in tact and to ensure that the answer scripts used by him did not get mingled with other candidates answer scripts. THE said application was rejected on the ground that the information sought by him cannot be furnished. Being aggrieved by the said order, he preferred an appeal to the appellate authority, which was also rejected. A further appeal was also filed before the appellate authority constituted under the Act and the same is pending. His further grievance is that some of the candidates ranked 5th, 6th, 9th and 28th had only secured lesser marks in the subjects than himself. However, they were ranked in the top and he was ranked 395th only because those candidates had secured very high marks in Zoology subject and he had secured very low marks. Under these circumstances, he approached the Central Administrative Tribunal for a direction to the UPSC to revise his rank in the Civil Services Examination, 2010 after verification and re-assessment of Zoology I & II subject and fix his name in the appropriate rank in the merit list. As the said application was dismissed by the order dated 8.8.2011, he is constrained to file the present writ petition.

(3.) WE have considered the above submissions.