MADURAI: Concluding that both “three times” and “four times” can be considered correct answers to the question “How many times was the Indian Rupee devalued since 1947?” asked in the written examination for sub-inspectors post conducted by the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board in January, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court directed the Board to prepare a fresh selection list for the recruitment.
A division bench of Justices N Kirubakaran and B Pugalendhi gave the direction on Wednesday while allowing the appeals filed by some candidates challenging a single judge's decision in August that the correct answer is “three times” as demonetisation cannot be counted as devaluation.
The counsel appearing for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which was suo motu impleaded in the case to assist the court, agreed with the single judge that demonetisation is entirely different from devaluation. However, he added that both answers could be considered correct. "The Indian Rupee was devalued in 1949, 1966 and 1991. But in 1991, it was carried out in two steps - on July 1 and July 3. Hence, it was devalued in three instances but four times," he said.
Recording the same, the judges directed the TNUSRB to rework the selection list by awarding marks for both answers.