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SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
L. NAGESWARA RAO, HEMANT GUPTA, JJ.
The State of Tamil Nadu & anr. – Appellants
Versus
A. Kalaimani & Ors. – Respondents
Civil Appeal Nos.6190-6201 of 2019 (Arising out of SLP (C) Nos. 14206-14217 of 2019)
Decided on : 08-08-2019
(a) Service Law – Selection – To posts of Lecturers in Government Polytechnic Colleges – Manipulation in answer sheets of 196 candidates – Cancellation of written examination and withdrawal of merit-list by Teachers Recruitment Board – Board initially conducted enquiry on its own regarding allegations pertaining to manipulation of OMR answer sheets – Board found that a few people benefited due to tampering of OMR answer sheets – On a deeper scrutiny sufficient material was found against 196 persons who were beneficiaries of fraud in alteration of marks – A bona fide decision taken by Board to instill confidence in public regarding integrity of selection process could not have been interfered with by High Court – Sufficiency of material on the basis of which a decision is taken by an authority is not within purview of High Court in exercising its power of judicial review – More material is being unearthed in investigation and several people have been arrested – Investigation is in progress – May be, candidates who had chance of being selected and appointed as Lecturers in Government Polytechnic Colleges on the basis of results of written examination would be inconvenienced due to another examination being conducted but a serious doubt entertained by Board about magnitude of manipulation in examination has to be given due weightage – Judgment of Division Bench of High Court set aside. (Paras 13, 15 and 17)
(b) Judicial Decorum – Conflicting Judgments – Matter has to be referred to a larger Bench in case of disagreement by a Coordinate Bench of equal strength. (Para 16)
Facts of the Case:
Teachers Recruitment Board issued a notification inviting applications for selection to posts of Lecturers in Government Polytechnic Colleges in the State of Tamil Nadu for the year 2017-2018. 1058 vacancies were notified and 1,70,366 applications were received. Written examination was conducted on 16.09.2017 in which 1,33,567 candidates appeared. After re-evaluation, discrepancies were found in the entries of 109 candidates who were called for certificate verification. Further scrutiny of the answer sheets revealed further discrepancies in the marks of 225 candidates. On a deeper scrutiny, the Board found that 196 candidates have been beneficiaries of fraudulent alteration of marks.
Findings of Court:
Having considered the merits of the case we do not approve the approach of the learned Single Judge of Principal Bench of the Madras High Court in taking a different view with another Single Judge of the same Court. It is trite law that the matter has to be referred to a larger Bench in case of disagreement by a Coordinate Bench of equal strength.
Result : Appeals allowed
JUDGMENT :
L. NAGESWARA RAO, J.
Leave granted.
1. The Teachers Recruitment Board (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Board’) issued a notification on 28.07.2017 inviting applications for selection to the posts of Lecturers in Government Polytechnic Colleges in the State of Tamil Nadu for the year 2017-2018. 1058 vacancies were notified and 1,70,366 applications were received. A written examination was conducted on 16.09.2017 in which 1,33,567 candidates appeared.
2. The written examination was of objective type. A printed book was given to the candidates in the examination hall. The printed book is known as Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheet. After completion of the written examination, the OMR sheets were scanned in the office of the Board. The original OMR answer sheets were kept in the safe custody in the office of the Board.
3. The scanned copies of the OMR sheets were sent to M/s Datatech Methodex Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Agency’) for evaluation and for preparation of the final list of the candidates who qualified for the certificate verification. The evaluation was done by the Agency and the list was sent to the Board. The merit list of the candidates called for certificate verification in the ratio of 1:2 was released on 07.11.2017. At that stage, a complaint was made to the Prime Minister’s Office on 17.11.2017 as well as the Board on 21.11.2017 alleging large scale malpractices in the written examination and requesting a probe into the complaints of tampering with the OMR sheets. To verify the genuineness of the complaint made to the Prime Minister’s Office, Mr. Shaik Dawood Nazzar representing the Agency was instructed to send the scanned images of the OMR sheets of the candidates whose names were mentioned in the complaint. Certain discrepancies were found on comparison of the scanned copies of the OMR sheets with the original OMR sheets. Immediately thereafter, the System Manager of the Agency was asked to re-evaluate the scanned images of the OMR sheets of the candidates called for certificate verification from the Hard Disk which was handed over to the Board. After re-evaluation, discrepancies were found in the entries of 109 candidates who were called for certificate verification. Further scrutiny of the answer sheets revealed further discrepancies in the marks of 225 candidates. On a deeper scrutiny, the Board found that 196 candidates have been the beneficiaries of the fraudulent alteration of the marks.
4. After being satisfied that the marks of 196 candidates were manipulated, the Board withdrew the result which was published on 07.11.2017. A decision was taken by the Board to upload the scanned images of the OMR answer sheets of all the 1,33,567 candidates along with the final marks and answer key on the website of the Board. The candidates were allowed to download copies of their OMR answer sheets and lodge objections in the interest of transparency.
5. A show cause notice was issued to the Agency which was processing the scanned OMRs to submit their explanation as to how the manipulation in the answer sheets of 196 candidates took place. Mr. Shaik Dawood Nazzar was found responsible for manipulating the OMR answer sheet images and awarding higher marks to some candidates after receiving money from one Mr. Ganesan. A decision was taken to cancel the examination that was conducted for selection to the posts of Lecturers in Government Polytechnic Colleges as the Board was of the view that there were chances of unearthing more malpractices at a later stage. In view of the serious doubt about the purity of the process of the examination conducted on 16.09.2017, the Board cancelled the written examination and withdrew the merit list dated 07.11.2017 calling candidates for certificate verification.
6. The Board also lodged a complaint with the Commissioner of Police, Chennai on 21.12.2017 which was registered as Crime No.468 of 2017 by the Central Crime Branch for offences under Sections 465,
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