PAWAR ASHISH DARASING Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In these Petitions, Petitioners assail various orders passed by the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal, Mumbai (Tribunal), in Original Applications instituted by them questioning the correctness of answer key/revised answer key in respect of several questions in preliminary examination conducted by the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) for State Civil Services Examination, 2022.

(2.) For some of the Petitioners, this is the second round of litigation. In Writ Petitions Nos. 15938 of 2022 and 368 of 2023, the Tribunal had proceeded to dismiss and Original Applications by Applicants therein by the judgment and order dated November 24, 2022. They had questioned revised answer key to question Nos. 48, 20, 89 before the Tribunal. The Presenting Officer appearing for the State Government made a statement before the Tribunal that question No. 48 was deleted by the MPSC and on that count, the Tribunal proceed to ignore the challenge to the revised answer key to question No. 48. When Tribunal's order was questioned before this Court in Writ Petition no. 14904 of 2022, the correct position came to light on account of statement made by counsel for MPSC before this Court that question no. 48 was not deleted. This Court therefore by its order dated December 8 2022, set aside order dated November 24, 2022 and remanded Original Application No. 1175 of 2022 for fresh decision. Similarly, Original Application No. 1150 of 2022 was also remanded back on similar grounds by order dtd. 9/12/2022 passed in Writ Petition No. 15246 of 2022. In similar manner, Original Application No. 1145 of 2022 was also remanded by this Court by its order dated December 21, 2022 passed in Writ Petition No. 1555 of 2022. The Tribunal proceeded to decide merits of the challenge raised to the revised answer key to question no. 48 and accepting the expert's opinion, dismissed Original Application Nos. 1145 of 2022, 1150 of 2022, 1175 of 2022 by common judgment and order dated December 15, 2022.

(3.) On similar lines, several other candidates filed Original Application Nos. 1288 of 2022, 1266 of 2022, 1267 of 2022, 1271 of 2022 questioning answer key/revised answer key in respect of various other questions which have also been dismissed by the Tribunal. The exact proceedings filed by various Petitioners before us can be tabulated as under:- <IMG>JUDGEMENT_201_LAWS(BOM)1_2023_1.jpg</IMG>