BHUPENDRA KUMAR DUBEY Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has prayed for issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to round off the marks obtained by him in the Middle School Teacher Eligibility Test, 2018 taking into consideration the letter dated 31.7.2012 (Annexure P-3) as well as the similar order passed in W.P. No.6903/2009 (Jitendra Shukla Vs. State of Madhya Pradesh and another) on 7.4.2010 (Annexure P-4).

(2.) The facts of the case, in nutshell, are that in pursuance to the advertisement issued by Respondent No.2/Professional Examination Board (for short "the Board"), the petitioner had appeared in the Middle School Teacher Eligibility Test, 2018 as unreserved candidate in science subject. In the said test the petitioner obtained total 89.99 marks and was declared disqualified as the cut off marks for unreserved category was 90. Thereafter, the petitioner under the Right to Information Act, 2005 requested the respondents to provide guidelines for rounding off the marks. In response, the petitioner received the aforesaid letter (Annexure -P-3) of the Additional Secretary, School Education Department, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh, intimating the petitioner that the rounding off process is going on in the said department. The petitioner waited for some time for further communication from the Board, but no information has been received so far regarding rounding off her marks. Accordingly, claiming similar relief as was given in the case of Jitendra Shukla (supra), this petition has been filed.

(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner had obtained 89.99 marks in the said examination whereas the cut off/minimum marks were 90 and if the same were rounded off to the cut-off marks, the petitioner would have been declared qualified in the said examination. In support of his contention, learned counsel has placed reliance on the letter (Annexure P-3) of Additional Secretary, the decisions of the Single Bench of this Court in the case of Jitendra Shukla (supra); W.P. No.207/2005 (Ku. Bhawna Mishra Vs. Barkatullah University & ors.) decided on 13.4.2006 and Dharmendra Kumar Shrivastava Vs. Jiwaji University, Gwalior, 2002 2 MPLJ 619. It was contended that the aforesaid letter itself speaks about the rounding off the marks obtained by the candidates. It was also argued that the petitioner should have been granted 10% reservation on the basis of the certificate (Annexure P-5) issued by the competent Authority of the Government of India in favour of the petitioner being economically weaker section of general category candidates having annual income less than Rs.8,00,000/- in a financial year and also 25% towards the experience of working as Guest Teacher. On these premises, it was submitted that the present petition deserves to be allowed.