“No Examination Is Reaching Its Conclusion”: Supreme Court Refuses To Stall BPSC Main Exam
The Preliminary Exam held on December 13, 2024, saw nearly 5 lakh candidates across 900 centres.
The Supreme Court declined to postpone the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) Main Examination, scheduled for April 25, despite claims of a paper leak during the Preliminary Exam.
The Court dismissed a set of petitions that challenged the 70th Combined Competitive Preliminary Examination held on December 13, 2024.
A Bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Manmohan remarked, “Each and every examination is being challenged…no examination is reaching its conclusion…no recruitment is taking place…”
The Court added, “Everyone is playing on the insecurities of each other, trying to throw a doubt in anyone’s mind…no examination is concluding today…it is very unfortunate…everyone is suspecting foul play…Today the problem in this country is…the inefficiency is a little more than you would suspect.”
Senior Advocate Anjana Prakash represented the Petitioners, who claimed that WhatsApp messages showed the questions were circulated before the test.
Justice Manmohan said, “The re-examination paper seems to have been leaked out after the exam had commenced…people had already entered the centre. They are already sitting there..”
Responding on behalf of the Bihar government and BPSC, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta stated, “We always prepare 4 sets of question papers. They are jumbled…”
Justice Dipankar Dutta remarked, “ There are different sets of questions for different centres. It is not possible …”
The video clip of the examination centre was also played in the Court.
The Bench said, “In any competitive exam you find a large number of books are published which have model question papers …at least 30-40% of questions are from that booklet…”
Consequently, the Court dismissed the batch of petitions.
Earlier Proceedings
Previously, the Supreme Court declined to entertain a similar plea concerning irregularities in the December 13 BPSC exam and the Bihar police’s actions against demonstrators. At that time, Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanathan directed the petitioner to approach the Patna High Court. The petitioner, represented by Anand Legal Aid Forum Trust, urged the court to intervene, citing police violence against peaceful protesters who were demanding the exam be scrapped.
The controversy centres on allegations that the question paper for the 70th Combined Competitive Preliminary Exam was leaked. The exam, held across 900 centres, saw participation from nearly 500,000 candidates.
Cause Title: Anand Legal Aid Trust v. Bihar Public Service Commission & Ors.
