The court emphasized the principle that it could only interfere with the assessment of merit in a competition in the presence of specific circumstances such as plain illegality, mala fides, or perversity.

T. L. Viswanatha Iyer, J.

1. There is no doubt that the petitioner is a talented girl. But that does not mean that there cannot be more talented people. It is evident from Exts. P1 to P20 that the petitioner is proficient in various fine arts. But that again does not mean that she should always be ranked first in whatever competition she participates. There can always be one better, who could be awarded a higher rank. Inability to accept this fact has led to this Writ Petition.

2. Petitioner's grievance is against her being awarded rank A grade II only in Bharathanatyam. as against A grade I aspired for. She is therefore not eligible to participate in the Trichur District Yuvajanotsavam, scheduled to be held on 23rd, 24th and 25th January, 1992 at Cherpu. Petitioner states that she is a highly accomplished girl in support of which she refers to Exts. P1 to P20. Her case is that she should have been awarded A grade I and thereby rendered eligible to participate in the Yuvajanotsavam instead of being awarded only A grade II. She has filed a petition complaining about her being relegated to A grade II as per Ext. P 21, and making request for being furnished with the names of the Judges for Bharathanatyam and the address of the student who secured A grade I, in Bharathanatyam in the Mala Sub District Yuvajanotsavam held on 31-12-1991, But the request was refused. It is thereafter that this Original Petition is filed.

3. The prayer in the original petition is to declare that the refusal to award A grade I to the petitioner in the competition for Bharathanatyam held on 31-12-1991 in the Mala Sub District Yuvajanotsavam is illegal, and further to declare that the award of A grade I to one T. V. Rekha is illegal and. void. This Rekha is not a party to the original petition, for which the excuse given by the petitioner, as stated earlier, is that the request made in Ext. P21 to furnish the address of this student was not acceded to.

4. It needs no reiteration that the award of marks and ranks in a contest of this nature is primarily the duty and responsibility of the Judges who have been appointed to judge on the merits or demerits of the various contestants. It is also a well - known fact that the ultimate difference between the top notchers in such contests is very often marginal and little and the ranks go by very low differences in marks. But that is inevitable. The judges who are experts react differently from different angles and they have different perceptions. It is not possible to have any absolute standards or absolute judges who react alike in all situations. It is precisely because of this that there is a multiplicity of judges for such contests, so that the individual predictions or tastes or ideas of one are offset by the sensitivities of the others. Since computers cannot be judges, nor the judges automations, differences based on individual perceptions are inevitable and have to be accepted. This system of assessment has therefore been adopted for the purpose of assessing the relative merit and the authorities have to depend upon the judgment of the judges appointed for the purpose. May be a different set of judges may take a different view of the matter. But that does not mean that the assessment of merits by one set of judges is lacking in validity or otherwise irregular. Assessment of merit is ultimately a matter of objective assessment by a set of impartial judges guided by relevant principles. If that be so, the fact that the petitioner did not get A grade I and was awarded only A grade II cannot be found fault with. As stated earlier, the assessment was made by judges competent for the purpose. It is not possible for this court to sit in appeal over such awards in a proceeding under Art.226 of the Constitution. It is not within the province of this court to re-assess the merits or demerits of candidates participating in competition made by competent judges appointed for the purpose. This court can interfere on