ANKIT TIWARI Vs. HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This order will govern the disposal of W.P. Nos.10070/2021, 10186/2021, 10221/2021, 10232/2021, 10445/2021, 10916/2021, 10971/2021, 11048/2021, 11049/2021, 11155/2021, 11196/2021, 11197/2021, 11266/2021, 11272/2021, 11391/2021, 11415/2021 and 11650/2021 as it is jointly submitted by counsel for all the parties that these petitions involve same issue on identical fact situation.

(2.) For convenience facts are noted from W.P. No.10070/2021. In this petition as many as 68 petitioners have challenged the list of selected candidates dated 24.05.2021 declared for the purpose of appearing in the main written examination. They have also prayed for a direction to recompute the marks afresh based on the corrections/amendments/restoration of wrongly deleted questions, in the test for Civil Judges Class-2 (Entry Level - Direct Recruitment) online preliminary examination.

(3.) The advertisement dated 05.09.2020 was issued by the respondent-High Court inviting applications to fill up the post of Civil Judges Class-2 (Entry Level - Direct Recruitment). The advertisement was to fill up 252 posts which include 60 backlog posts from previous year. As per the scheme disclosed in Part-B of the advertisement, the examination is to be held in three phases, firstly, online preliminary examination; secondly, main examination; and finally, interview. The preliminary examination was conducted for the purpose of screening the candidates for main examination. The marks obtained in the preliminary examination are not to be added in the final examination. The syllabus of the preliminary examination was disclosed and total marks assigned in the preliminary examination was 150. As per the scheme, the examination was objective type and each objective question had four options. There was no negative marking. For the purpose of convenience of the candidates, a mock test was also made available in the website. The candidate was expected to select the best possible option out of the four options. The procedure for the purpose of valuation and result of online preliminary examination was also disclosed in the advertisement by mentioning that after the preliminary examination the proposed model answers was to be made available in the M.P. High Court website www.mphc.gov.in. The candidates had the opportunity to give their option/suggestion, if any, in respect of the proposed model answer within seven days from the date of publication of model answer in the website. The objection/suggestion could be given in writing under his own signature by post or through e-mail to the Principal Registrar (Exams) along with all the material relating to the source/document on which the objections/suggestions were based. No objection/suggestion was acceptable after seven days. It was also made clear that if no objection was received in respect of model answer key then it would be treated to be final. The valuation of the online preliminary examination was computer based and as per advertisement maximum 10 times (which could be less also) candidates category-wise were to be declared qualified/eligible to appear in the main examination with the further condition that the candidates obtaining equal marks will be permitted even if for this reason the number of eligible candidates may be slightly more than 10 times. The minimum marks prescribed for general category and OBC candidates was 90 and for reserved (scheduled tribe and scheduled caste) candidates as 82. The result of the online examination was to be declared by uploading it in the High Court website. The applications along with the self-attested documents were to be called for the main examination from the candidates who qualify the preliminary examination. The main examination is a written examination. The advertisement also makes it clear that after the commencement of the recruitment process at any stage if the need arises for any clarification or amendment, the same will be done by issuing a corrigendum.