Kuldeep Kumar Rathi & Another vs Uttarakhand Public Service Commission

Alok Mahra, J

Petitioners have approached this Court, seeking the following reliefs:

i) Issue a writ, order in the nature of certiorari quashing the impugned result dated 08.10.2025 (contained as Annexure No.- 12) issued by Secretary, Uttarakhand Public Service Commission so far it relates to the petitioner.

ii) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the respondent to setup an expert committee to look into the question no. 27, 41, 70 & 126 of Set A of General Studies test and examine the correct answers to these questions.

iii) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the respondent to consider the candidature of the Petitioners for the Uttarakhand Combined State Civil/Upper Subordinate Services (Mains) Exam-2025 by providing them suitable marks for disputed questions.

Briefly put, the case of the petitioners is as follows:

On 07.05.2025, the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission issued an advertisement inviting applications for the Uttarakhand Combined State Civil/Upper Subordinate Services Examination, 2025. The petitioners applied pursuant to the said advertisement and participated in the preliminary examination. After the preliminary examination, the respondent-Commission uploaded the provisional answer key on its official website and invited objections from the candidates. Subsequently, an amended provisional answer key was also published by the Commission. Petitioner no.1, being aggrieved by certain questions in the General Studies paper, submitted objections to the answer key as published by the Commission. However, for the first time, no acknowledgment of the objections was provided by the Commission, though the prescribed fee of ₹50/- per question was charged from candidates. Petitioner no.1 submitted objections with respect to six questions, but in the writ petition, petitioners have questioned the correctness of only question nos. 27, 41, 70 & 126 of Set A of General Studies Test. Both the petitioners ultimately failed to qualify the General Studies paper by margins of 0.5 and 1.29 marks respectively.

Question no. 27 of Set A of General Studies paper, which reads as under:-

Which of the following pairs is not correctly matched?

Mineral

Location

(a) Dolomite

-

Dehradun, Pithoragarh

(b) Soap Stone

-

Chamoli, Bageshwar

(c) Graphite

-

Almora, Nainital

(d) Silica sand

-

Pauri Garhwal

According to the petitioners, the initial answer given by the Commission in the provisional answer key was option (d), in the amended provisional answer key the answer was option but at the time of issuing the final answer key the Commission changed the answer and deleted the question, which is completely incorrect, as according to Directorate of Geology and Mining Annual Report 2024-25, the correct answer is option (d).

Question no. 41 of Set A of General Studies paper reads as under:-

Consider the following statements about Right to Education and choose the correct answer:

It try to achieve the aim of Education for All .

Earlier a provision of free and compulsory education was provided in Part IV of the Constitution.

It became Fundamental right after 91st Constitutional Amendment.

(a) Only 1 and 2 (b) Only 2 and 3

(c) Only 1 and 3 (d) 1,2 and 3

According to the petitioners, in the provisional answer key as well as final answer key, the question has been deleted however, the option (a) is the correct answer.

Question no. 70 of Set A of General Studies paper is extracted below:-

What is total score obtained by Uttarakhand in 6th Food Security Index, 2024?

(a)48.5 (b) 44.25 (c) 38.75 (d) 37.5

According to the petitioners, the answer given by the Commission to this question is option (c) which is incorrect because the question is wrong in itself, inasmuch as, the question talks about total score obtained by Uttarakhand in 6th Food Security Index, 2024, option (c) is the score obtained by Uttarakhand in 6th Food Safety Index, 2023-2024.

Question no. 126 of Set A of General Studies paper reads as under:-

Consider the following statements with reference to Trade Union Movement in India:

All India Trade Union Congress was founded in 1920.

Lala Lajpat Rai was elected its first President.

All India Trade Union Federation was formed by S.A. Dange in 1929.

Select the correct answer from the code given below:

(a) Only 1 & 2 (b) Only 1 & 3 (c) Only 2 & 3 (d) Only 2 & 4

According to the petitioners, the Commission has deleted question nos. 27, 41 & 126 of Set A of General Studies test which, according to the petitioners, ought not to have been deleted.

Learned counsel for the petitioners after arguing for some time, did not press the decision taken by the Commission regarding question nos.27, 41 & 126 of Set A and have only pressed that question no.70 of Set A was wrongly formulated and, as per Regulation 9(iv) of Uttarakhand Public Service Commission (Examination Result Preparation Procedure) Regulations, 2022 (for short the Regulations of 2022 ). He submits that since the question was wrongly formulated, it ought to have been deleted by the Commission. He submits that the Commission has not deleted question 70 of Set A . He submits that Food Safety and Food Security are completely different things and, therefore, the question given by the Commission is incorrect, according to FSSAI, State Food Safety Index is an annual assessment of food safety standards, while Food Security Index is a global term. The two are not interchangeable. He submits that the result of the preliminary examination was declared on 08.10.2025 by the Commission and the Mains Examination is due from 06.12.2025.

Per contra, learned counsel for the respondent submits that, in fact, the petitioners did not file objections to the preliminary answer keys, their objections were never registered on the portal, which is automatic on the website of the Commission.

On last occasion, this Court request the Technical Expert and a person controlling the exam to join the proceedings through V.C. so as to elaborate, how the objections are registered and how they are processed and how the payments are made while registering objections. Pursuant to the said order, Ms. Poonam Joshi, System Analyst, Uttarakhand Public Service Commission joined the proceedings through V.C. and explained the method of registering objections. She submitted that though objections to the answer key were not received from the petitioners, but a sum of ₹300/- was received in the UPI account of the Commission and further details were missing.

The petitioners have submitted their objection alongwith requisite fee. If it does not reflect on the portal of the Commission, then the petitioners cannot be faulted.

Learned counsel for the respondent very fairly admits that question 70 of Set A was wrongly formulated and it ought to have been deleted by the Commission.

Hon ble Supreme Court in Kanpur University, through Vice Chancellor & others Vs. Samir Gupta & others, reported in (1983) 4 SCC 309 and, in subsequent decisions, has held that where the key answer is demonstrably wrong or a question admits of more than one correct answer, the Court may direct that such questions be excluded from evaluation and marks be awarded accordingly, rather than substituting its own key. The rationale is that evaluation must rest on clear and objectively verifiable questions; a faulty or confusing question undermines equal treatment of candidates and offends Article 14 of the Constitution. This principle has been consistently followed where examining bodies themselves, on receiving expert input, delete defective questions and award proportionate marks to all candidates.

Hon ble Apex Court in the case of Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission, through its Chairman and another Vs. Rahul Singh and another, reported in (2018) 7 SCC 254, has observed that the Constitution Courts must exercise great restraint in matters regarding public examination and should be reluctant to entertain the plea challenging the correctness of the key answers.

In the case in hand, the Regulations of 2022 clearly states that where the question is structurally defective, such a question shall be excluded from the question paper and the marks for remaining questions shall then be increased proportionately so that the total maximum marks remain unchanged.

In view of the above factual and legal position, this Court is constrained to hold that Question No. 70 of Set A in the General Studies paper of the Uttarakhand Combined State Civil/Upper Subordinate Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2025, is wrongly framed, inasmuch as, it refers to a 6th Food Security Index, 2024 but treats the score from the 6th State Food Safety Index, 2023 2024 as the answer. The Commission ought to have deleted this question as provided under Regulation 9(iv) of the Regulations of 2022. Furthermore, the learned counsel for the Commission has himself admitted that question no. 70 of Set A was wrongly formulated and it ought to have been deleted by the Commission.

Accordingly, the writ petition is allowed. It is declared that Question No. 70 of Set A of the General Studies paper in the aforesaid preliminary examination is defective and shall stand deleted from evaluation. The Uttarakhand Public Service Commission is directed to re-compute the result of the preliminary examination by deleting Question No. 70 of Set A and publish the merit list as per the provisions contained in Regulations of 2022.