Make prelim cutoffs public: HC to UPSC

Publication: Times Of India Delhi; Date:2008 Sep 04; Section:Times Nation; Page Number 7
New Delhi: In a boost to transparency seekers, the Delhi high court on Wednesday upheld the decision of Central Information Commission that UPSC examination candidates had a right to know the marks obtained by them in the preliminary test of civil services examination.
A division bench comprising Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar directed the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to make public the cutoff marks obtained by candidates in preliminary test of the civil services examination which was held in the year 2006. This has opened the path for students who appeared in subsequent years to also press for similar disclosure of marks.
‘‘We observed that the documents submitted by UPSC in a sealed cover, are not of such nature that can be characterised as secret, or of a type the disclosure of which would not be in public interest,’’ observed a Division Bench of Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar in a judgment, upholding the April 17, 2007 order passed by a single judge favouring the CIC’s decision which had held that disclosure of information pertaining to cut-off marks would not harm the interest of UPSC or any third party. The HC Bench dismissed a petition filed by the Commission against the single judge’s order.
The two judges also dismissed the apprehension of UPSC that by disclosing the working of the scaling methodology for preliminary examination, merit can get compromised and candidates with less merit would be selected and noted ‘‘...We are of the view that the apprehension of UPSC is not well founded.’’ UPSC had approached the HC against the November 13, 2006 order passed by the CIC allowing the pleas of candidates seeking details of the marks obtained by them in preliminary exam and sought separate details of cutoff marks for every subjects. TNN

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