IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.5947 of 2025 ======================================================

Harsha Shekhar D/o Shashi Shekhar Singh Resident of Sector J/172 Peoples Co-Operative Colony, Kankarbagh, P.S. Kankarbagh, District-Patna, Bihar-

800020.

... ... Petitioner/s Versus

1. The State of Bihar through the Additional Chief Secretary, General Administration Department, Government of Bihar, Patna.

2. Additional Chief Secretary, General Administration Department, Government of Bihar, Patna.

3. The Chairman, Bihar Public Service Commission, 15, Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg (Bailey Road), Patna-800001, Bihar.

4. The Controlller of Examination, Bihar Public Service Commission, 15, Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg (Bailey Road), Patna-800001, Bihar.

5. The Secretary, Bihar Public Service Commission, 15, Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg (Bailey Road), Patna-800001, Bihar.

6. The Deputy Secretary, Bihar Public service Commission, 15, Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg (Bailey Road), Patna-800001, Bihar.

... ... Respondent/s ======================================================

Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Ranjeet Kumar, Advocate Ms. Lakshmi Kumar, Advocate Mr. Kanishk Kaustubh, Advocate Mr. Rajnish Prakash, Advocate For the Respondent-State : Mr. Government Pleader (26)

For the Respondent-BPSC: Mr. Lalit Kishore, Sr. Advocate Mr. Kanishk Shankar, Advocate ======================================================

CORAM: HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MOHIT KUMAR SHAH

ORAL JUDGMENT

(Per: HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE)

Date : 21-01-2026 This writ petition has been filed by the petitioner, Harsha Shekhar with the following prayer:-

“(i) For issuance of a direction to the respondent authorities to re-check & re-evaluate the question-answer of Q. Nos.-3(C), 5(A), 5(C), and 14 (D) of General Knowledge Paper of the petitioner relating to Main Examination of the 32nd Bihar Judicial Service Examination against Advertisement No.-23/2023.

(ii) For that the petitioner further prays that after re- check & re-evaluation of the aforementioned Question- Answers of the General Knowledge, the petitioner may be awarded 3-4 additional marks and she may be declared selected as the petitioner secured total 501 marks and the Cut-off marks for B.C. Female category is 502 marks only.”

2. It is the case of the petitioner that an advertisement bearing Advertisement No.-23/2023 was published by the Bihar Public Service Commission (hereinafter referred to as “the B.P.S.C.”) on 20.02.2023 for 32^nd Bihar Judicial Service Examination (Lower Division) for filling up 155 posts from the eligible candidates applying the reservation policy applicable in the State of Bihar. There was provision for 35% horizontal reservation for female in all category. As per the advertisement, a candidate must be a law graduate from the University/Institutions recognized by Bar Council of India, New Delhi and he/she should be more than 22 years of age as on 01.08.2022 and should be less than 35 years of age as on 01.08.2019. The retirement age of the judicial officer has been fixed as 60 years. The selection process as per the advertisement was Preliminary Examination, then Main Examination and the Interview. The Preliminary Examination as per the advertisement was to be objective type consisting of two papers with total marks of 250, while the Mains Examination comprised of 5 compulsory papers and 3 optional papers, carrying a total of 1050 marks. The interview of the successful candidates in the Mains Examination was to be for 100 marks. The petitioner being eligible for the aforementioned post registered her application online and then filed online application form and accordingly Registration No. 32007977 and Application No.-004899 was generated. The petitioner belongs to B.C. (female) category, hence while submitting application form she also enclosed her Non-Creamy Layer B.C. category caste certificate. The admit card for the preliminary examination was issue