UNION PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION Vs. JAVED ANWAR KHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Respondent herein appeared in the Engineering Services Examination ('ESE') conducted, in the year 1999, by the Union Public Service Commission ('UPSC'). A few months after the examination, the Respondent received a Notice, dated 29.3.2000, issued by the UPSC requiring him to show cause, if any, as to why action, as stipulated in the Notice, be not taken against him. The Notice read as under:

(2.) Your attention is also invited to para 6 of the notice of the examination which inter alia, provides that "a candidate who is or has been declared by the Commission to be guilty of using unfair means during the examination, may, in addition to rendering himself liable to criminal prosecution, be liable:

(3.) The Respondent submitted his reply to the said show-cause notice. Responding to the said show-cause notice, the present Respondent contended in his letter, dated 3.4.2000, that he knows the said Shailendra Kumar since July, 1995, that is, for the last about four years, they had prepared for various competitive examinations together and they had shared, with each other, the notes, books, accommodation and kitchen and since he (Respondent) had been appearing in the Engineering Services Examination since 1994 and had not been able to qualify, he (Respondent) and the said Shailendra Kumar had decided to prepare selective topics thoroughly rather than all the topics superficially and it was, therefore, quite possible that some of their attempted questions would match. The Respondent, in his reply, dated 3.4.2000, further stated that he never ever, during the examination, tried to copy any question or shared views with the said Shailendra Kumar and that he denies the charges levelled against him.