The decision on the content of examination question papers and qualifying marks lies within the exclusive domain of academic experts and cannot be questioned through judicial review unless demonstrated to be manifestly arbitrary, malafide, or illegal.

JUDGMENT

V. Kameswar Rao (Oral)

CM APPLs. 43092/2023 and 43093/2023

Exemption allowed, subject to all just exceptions.

Applications stand disposed of.

W.P.(C) 11099/2023 & CM APPL. 43091/2023

1. The challenge in this Writ Petition is to an order dated August 03, 2023, passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi (`Tribunal' for short) in O.A. No. 1782/2023, whereby the Tribunal has dismissed the O.A. filed by the petitioners.

2. The facts as noted from the record are that the petitioners were Civil Service aspirants and had participated in the Civil Services Examiniation- 2023 (CSE-2023) conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The examination, conducted in three stages is yet to be concluded. The petitioners have participated only in the first stage, which is the preliminary examination.

3. Their grievance before the Tribunal was that General Studies Paper-II or the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT), which forms one of the two papers in the preliminary examination contains a large number of questions, which were not in accordance with the syllabus notified for the said examination. It was also their case that the CSAT/Paper-II is only qualifying in nature, however, the implications are that only those candidates who qualify in this paper, are considered for position in the merit on the basis of the marks obtained in Paper-I. According to them, this essentially means that no matter how well they will perform in Paper-I, if they did not meet the qualifying marks prescribed for Paper-II, they would be virtually out of the competition. It was also represented that the qualifying marks in CSAT Paper-II are 33%. It was also elaborated by them before the Tribunal that the syllabus for the CSAT/Paper-II is supposed to be of Class X Level Arithmetic/ Mathematics, whereas a large number of questions asked in the said paper related to Commutation, Permutation and Combination, which is not a subject taught in Class X, and in fact the questions generally were those put forth to evaluate the candidates for admission in higher engineering institutions like IITs, etc. The paper being in contravention to the syllabus that has been notified, has severely impaired the prospects of the candidates to compete on their own merits in the Civil Services Examination without having to be subjected to discrimination, as students with humanities background would face unreasonable disadvantage.

4. The case of the respondent before the Tribunal was that the question paper for CSAT was set up by a committee of experts and their wisdom and knowledge cannot be questioned in a legal forum through judicial review. It was also their case that more than six lakh candidates have participated in the CSE-2023, whereas only 15 persons, who are applicants before the Tribunal, have aired their grievance qua the said examination. It was the case of the UPSC that the examination has been conducted strictly in accordance with the rules and instructions governing its conduct and also in a transparent, fair and objective manner. It was also stated, no malafide has been alleged or speculated as far as the conduct of the respondents in conducting the said examination is concerned.

5. UPSC had also justified the qualifying marks of 33%, having been prescribed in accordance with rules governing the examination and hence, the petitioners cannot seek the change of the cut off percentage to 23% for their convenience.

6. The Tribunal while dismissing the O.A. has in paragraphs 18 to 26 stated as under:

"18. We have heard the learned counsels for the parties at great length. Besides meticulously going through the pleadings on record, we have also given due consideration to the plethora of judgments quoted by the respected learned counsels.

19. At the outset, we would like to recognize and expressly state that the UPSC carries an unblemished reputation and record of conducting examination for selection to civil posts in a fair, objectiv