CHANDRA PRAKASH SHARMA Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present writ petition has been filed for directing the respondent Bihar School Examination Board (hereinafter referred to as the 'Board') to produce the decision by which the respondent Board has decided to delete wrong model questions and not to allot marks against the same and quash the said decision accordingly. The petitioners have also prayed for quashing the press communiqu- ((THELAW)) bearing Advertisement No. 75 of 2017 and 89 of 2017, whereby the Controller of Examination of the Board has decided to delete the wrong questions on the basis of the objection. The petitioners have further prayed to direct the Board to award marks against all the wrong model questions to all the candidates who have appeared in the written examination of the Bihar Teacher Eligibility Test as well as to direct the Board to reduce the passing percentage up to 5 per cent in the case of female candidates belonging to reserved category of O.B.C., E.B.C., S.C./S.T. and specially Disabled candidates.

(2.) The brief facts of the case are that an advertisement bearing advertisement no. 42 dated 6.4.2017 was issued in the daily newspaper, seeking to conduct the Bihar Elementary Teachers Eligibility Test, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the 'BETET, 2017') and the said examination was to be conducted for teaching in Class 1 to 5 in Primary School as well as for Class 6 to 8. The last date for submission of application form was fixed as 25.4.2017, but the same was extended to 30.4.2017. The writ petitioners having requisite qualifications had filled the forms. Subsequently, another advertisement bearing advertisement no. 54 of 2017 was issued whereby and whereunder one more opportunity was granted to the candidates to remove the error in the online application form which had not been removed and for the said purpose, date was fixed from 18.5.2017 to 20.5.2017. Accordingly, the date of examination was also extended and ultimately, the examination was held on 23.7.2017 wherein the writ petitioners had also appeared. After the examination was held, an advertisement no. 75 of 2017 was published wherein it was stated that the OMR sheets of the respective candidates were being uploaded on the website and in case, any candidate has any objection, such candidate can submit online objection on or before 25.10.2017. Thereafter, another advertisement bearing advertisement no. 83 of 2017 was issued by the Board wherein it was stated that those candidates, who are not satisfied with their marks, can submit their applications for scrutiny of the OMR answer-sheets and for obtaining copy of their respective OMR answer-sheets in between 23.9.2017 to 30.9.2017, after depositing the requisite fees.

(3.) The further case of the writ petitioners is that the Board had conducted the aforesaid BETET, 2017 and the result was published on 21.9.2017. The writ petitioners were surprised that their names did not find place amongst the list of successful candidates and most of the candidates' result had been declared invalid. Subsequently, it transpired that the result of some of the candidates had been declared invalid on account of use of whitener or eraser etc.