Delhi High Court: Courts Can Intervene Where UPSC Answer Keys Are Patently Incorrect, Clarifies Challenge Is Not Re-Evaluation

The Delhi High Court has held that courts are empowered to examine and interfere with official answer keys in competitive examinations where the suggested answers are demonstrably incorrect. The Court clarified that such challenges cannot be equated with seeking re-evaluation of answer sheets.

A Division Bench of Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla passed the ruling while hearing a petition filed by an OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) candidate who appeared in the UPSC Indian Forest Service Examination, 2022. The petitioner challenged the official answer key for two questions in the General Studies Paper-I, contending that the suggested answers were legally and factually incorrect.

The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) had dismissed the petition by relying on precedents holding that candidates do not possess an absolute right to re-evaluation of examination papers. However, the High Court found that the Tribunal had failed to appreciate the nature of the challenge.

The Bench observed that the petitioner was not seeking re-evaluation of his answer sheet but questioning the correctness of the model answer key itself. Referring to its earlier judgment in Staff Selection Commission v. Shubham Pal, the Court reiterated that while judicial interference is unwarranted where the answer key presents a plausible view, courts must intervene where the suggested answer is "patently incorrect" or "demonstrably unacceptable."

Accordingly, the High Court set aside the Tribunal's order and remitted the matter for fresh consideration on merits. It also directed the Tribunal to hear the case expeditiously, noting that the dispute concerns the petitioner's candidature for the Indian Forest Service and involves only a limited issue requiring prompt adjudication.