Point of Law: It cannot be expected that an enquiry be made by the Examining Body as to whose OMR sheet it is when no roll number is written thereon. Such enquiries if burdened on the examination body would entail delay in the preparation of merit list and conclusion of the selection process. A petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is a remedy for the protection of the legal/fundamental right or for ensuring the discharging of a statutory duty owned by a statutory authority to a citizen

ORDER :

ARUN BHANSALI, J.

1. This writ petition is directed against the order dated 24/9/2020 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Jodhpur Bench, Jodhpur (‘Tribunal’), whereby, the original application filed by the respondent – applicant has been accepted and order dated 24/6/2020 has been quashed and petitioners herein have been directed to evaluate the OMR answer sheets of the applicant for the post of Inspector of Posts and in case he is found to have secured cut off marks or more marks than the persons appointed/promoted, he shall also be given appointment/ promotion on the said post with all consequential benefits.

2. The original application was filed by the respondent - applicant inter alia with the submissions that the petitioners respondents issued notification dated 7/10/2019 for conducting the Limited Departmental Competitive Examination for promotion to the cadre of Inspector of Posts for the departmental quota for the years 2016-2017, 2017-2018 and 2018. As the applicant was possessing the requisite qualification, he applied for the same. Admit card and instructions for examinations to be held on 16/17- 11-2019 were issued to the applicant and he participated in the process of examination.

3. In the OMR answer sheet of paper second, the respondent mentioned his Roll No. 18010030 in the space provided under column 8 correctly, however, by mistake he darkened wrong bubble/circle in the column of Roll Number in the OMR sheet (circle ‘9’ instead of circle ‘0’) on 16/11/2019. The OMR answer sheets were duly signed by the examination supervisor and invigilator.

4. It was indicated that the respondent – applicant, after realizing his mistake in relation to paper second held on 16/11/2019 regarding wrong darkening of the circle in the OMR answer sheet, he filed representation on 21/1/2020 through proper channel for making necessary correction in the OMR answer sheet. It was indicated that without permitting due correction in the OMR answer sheet of paper second, the result was declared on 24/6/2020 and without making any evaluation of respondent’s answer sheet, his case was rejected with the remark ‘Error’ in the OMR sheet. The respondent made representation indicating that if his OMR answer sheet was checked, he would have secured higher marks than the cut off and, therefore, his OMR answer sheet be evaluated. As no response was received, the O.A. was filed.

5. The petitioners herein filed reply to the interim prayer indicating that the respondent has admitted his mistake and as such, the OMR answer sheet has been rightly rejected.

6. The Tribunal, after hearing the parties, came to the conclusion that assessing the merit of a candidate should be the prime responsibility of the department and same should not be hindered by the technicalities required for filling up the OMR sheet. Relying on the judgment of principal bench of CAT, which in turn had relied on judgments of Delhi High Court and this Court, it was held that minor omission should not come in the way of evaluation of OMR sheets of the candidates and consequently passed orders as noticed hereinbefore.

7. Feeling aggrieved, the petitioners have filed the present writ petition.

8. It is submitted by learned counsel for the petitioners that the Tribunal was not justified in accepting the O.A. despite admitted mistake committed by the respondent. It was emphasized that the instructions issued by the examination authorities to the candidates, which were indicated on the first page of the question booklet clearly stipulated that the candidate must write his roll number, question booklet series and other particulars in the space provided in the OMR answer sheet, failing which his OMR answer sheet will not be evaluated. Further, caution was indicated that care should be taken in filling up the roll number, examination paper number, question booklet serial number and that complete filling up will be the sole responsibility of the applicant and as such the same has resul