( 1. ) THIS Letters Patent Appeal is filed by the respondents against the order passed in Writ Petition No. 2348 of 2003 passed by Honble Single Judge of this Court on 23-9-2003 whereby the learned Single Judge allowed the petition filed by respondent Nos. 1 to 27 and directed the appellant, Board, to afford opportunity of hearing to the petitioners before cancelling their results. ( 2. ) THE brief facts giving rise to the petition arc that respondent Nos. 1 to 27 are regular students from D. A. V. Higher Secondary School, Bhind and Indira Gandhi Memorial High School, Bhind. All these petitioners appeared in the examination of higher secondary from examination centre No. 31005. Nearly 400 students appeared in the examination from the aforesaid centre. Out of these students the result of 119 students were cancelled on the ground that their answers were found identically the same. Even the mistakes appeared in the answer papers were also the same in all the papers answered by these students. Thus, it was found that all these students were indulged in mass-copying and malpractice. Hence, their results were cancelled.

( 3. ) THE contention of the students is that the examination