Judgment

CHANDRACHUD, CJI.:- These appeals raise a somewhat awkward question: If a paper-setter commits an error while indicating the correct answer to a question set by him, can the students who answer that question correctly be failed for the reason that though their answer is correct, it does not accord with the answer supplied by the paper-setter to the University as the correct answer? The answer which the paper-setter supplies to the University as the correct answer is called the key answer. No one can accuse the teacher of not knowing the correct answer to the question set by him. But it seems that, occasionally, not enough care is taken by the teachers to set questions which are free from ambiguity and to supply key answers which are correct beyond reasonable controversy. The keys supplied by the paper-setters in these cases, raised more questions than they solved.

2. The respondents in these appeals applied for admission to the Medical Colleges in the State of Uttar Pradesh. There are 7 Medical Colleges in the State of U. P., to which admission is granted on the basis of the result of a Combined Pre-Medical Test which is held in pursuance of the orders passed by the State Government under Section 29 of the U. P. State Universities Act, 1973. The Government nominates one of the Universities in the State for holding the Test every year. In the year 1982, the Kanpur University, the appellant herein, was entrusted with the task of holding the Test. By any standard, it is a stupendous task because, 20,000 applications are received every year for admission to a total number of 779 seats in the 7 Medical Colleges, out of which 50 per cent are reserved seats and the remaining 50% are open. Physics, Chemistry, Zoology and Botany are the four subjects which are prescribed for the Test. One paper is set for each subject and the pattern of the examination is what is called the Multiple choice objective-type test. For persons belonging to yester generations, this is a newfangled concept. One hundred questions are set in each paper and four alternative answers are indicated against each question. The candidates are required to tick the correct answer from out of those four. If he ticks the correct answer, he secures 3 marks and if a candidate ticks an incorrect answer, he loses I mark. Each paper is of a duration of 3 hours.

3. So far so good, the snag lies in determining which out of the four suggested answers is the correct answer. That duty is naturally assigned to the paper-setter; who is required to supply to the University the correct answer to each question, called the key answer. The difficulty involved in evaluating a very large number of answer-books is solved by the State Government, quite .successfully, by computerising the result. The key answers are fed into a computer and the marking computerised.

4. The difficulty which arose in these cases is not due to the failure of the computer, which is quite encouraging. The habit of man is to blame the machine The difficulty arose because the key answers furnished by the paper-setters turned out to be wrong. The students got to know the key answers out of the generosity of the University. It wanted, rightly, to be frank and fair. Therefore, it published the key answers along with the result of the test. Respondents, whose names did not figure in the list of successful candidates, filed writ petitions in the High Court of Allahabad, contending that the answers ticked by them were correct and the key answers wrong. The High Court has accepted their contention and that is how the Kanpur University has come to file these appeals. There cannot be a more telling instance of Shishyat Ichhet Parajayam (Wish for defeat from your pupil). But the Gurus contend that the Shishyas are wrong and do not deserve to win.

5. There is no controversy over the questions set in the Physics paper. The controversy arises in regard to three questions, one each in the papers in Chemistry, Zoology and Botany