CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Tuesday directed the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) to revise the result of two candidates who had appeared the written examination for recruitment of 105 homeopathic medical officers in the Group-B rank in December last year but failed to qualify.
Rajani Padhan and Rasmita Malik, both scheduled caste (SC) category candidates, had filed separate petitions challenging their failure to obtain the cut-off mark only by one mark owing to change of answer key.
OPSC had on December 7 last year made public the answer key for the objective questions but again released a revised answer key on a change in the opinion of experts on May 13 this year. Both Padhan and Malik claimed they would have qualified had the first answer key been followed. While making the claim on the basis of their marksheets provided by the OPSC, the petition also pointed out error in a question.
After close scrutiny of the case records, Justice SK Panigrahi opined, “This court is of the opinion that it is not appropriate to adopt a completely hands-off approach in this matter.”
Accordingly, Justice Panigrahi observed, “The error in question no 33 is apparent, and overlooking it would result in injustice to the petitioners, despite the court’s awareness of its potential impact on the results of other candidates. Consequently, the court directs that the result of the petitioners be revised to reflect marks for question no 33 in line with the marking scheme, and the candidature of the petitioners be reconsidered in light of the revised marks.”
On issuance of revised answer keys after written examinations of objective questions, Justice Panigrahi said once the answer to an objective question has been officially established and validated, it should not be altered based on a change in the opinion of experts as it undermines the credibility of the examination process and creates unwarranted ambiguity.