ORDER

1. HEARD THE LEARNED COUNSEL FOR THE PARTIES.

2. LEAVE GRANTED.

3. CHALLENGE, BEFORE US, IS TO THE CORRECTNESS OF THE IMPUGNED JUDGMENT OF THE HIGH COURT WHEREBY THE DECISION OF THE LEARNED SINGLE JUDGE WAS AFFIRMED BY THE DIVISION BENCH ON COMING TO THE CONCLUSION THAT IT CANNOT BE SAID WITH CERTAINTY THAT THE ANSWERS TO THE SIX QUESTIONS GIVEN IN THE ANSWER KEYS WERE ERRONEOUS AND INCORRECT.

4. BRIEFLY, THE FACTS ARE THAT THE STUDENT COMMUNITY FILED A WRIT PETITION BEFORE THE HIGH COURT CHALLENGING THEIR RANKING IN THE ENTRANCE TESTS, WHICH WERE CONDUCTED BY RESPONDENT 1 MAHARISHI DAYANAND SARASWATI UNIVERSITY (FOR SHORT "THE UNIVERSITY") ON 9-5-2005, 10-5-2005 AND 11-5-2005, FOR ADMISSION TO MEDICAL AND DENTAL COURSES IN VARIOUS COLLEGES IN THE STATE OF RAJASTHAN. THE GRIEVANCE OF THE STUDENTS WAS THAT VARIOUS KEY ANSWERS ON THE BASIS WHEREOF THE ANSWER-SHEETS WERE EVALUATED WERE WRONG AND, CONSEQUENTLY, WRONG AND ERRONEOUS RANKING WAS PREPARED.

5. ON THE AFORESAID THREE DATES, EXAMINATIONS WERE HELD FOR PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGY SUBJECTS RESPECTIVELY. THE RESULTS WERE DECLARED ON 22-5-2005 ON INTERNET AND PUBLISHED IN THE NEWSPAPERS ON 23-5-2005. THE TOTAL MARKS ALLOTTED TO EACH SUBJECT WERE 300 I.E. 900 IN TOTAL. EACH PAPER HAD 100 QUESTIONS OF THREE MARKS EACH. THE MARKING SYSTEM PROVIDED FOR REDUCING ONE MARK FOR EACH WRONG ANSWER, WHICH MEANS THAT NEGATIVE MARKING SYSTEM WAS ADOPTED. THE ANSWERS WERE OBJECTIVE, GIVING MULTIPLE CHOICES TO THE STUDENTS I.E. A/B/CID. THE CONTROVERSY BEFORE THE HIGH COURT AND AGAIN AGITATED BEFORE THIS COURT BY THE STUDENTS AFTER BEING UNSUCCESSFUL BEFORE THE HIGH COURT IS THE WRONG KEY ANSWERS PERTAINING TO VARIOUS ANSWERS IN ALL THE THREE SUBJECTS OF PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGY. THE LEARNED SINGLE JUDGE SOUGHT FOR THE EXPERT OPINION OF JODHPUR UNIVERSITY AND UDAIPUR UNIVERSITY. FOR THE PRESENT PURPOSE, WE ARE NOT NOTICING AND CONSIDERING THOSE KEY ANSWERS IN RESPECT WHEREOF THERE IS A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION. WE ARE CONSIDERING ONLY THOSE KEY ANSWERS ON WHICH THERE IS UNANIMITY. ADMITTEDLY, SIX KEY ANSWERS; ONE IN RELATION TO PHYSICS; TWO IN RELATION TO CHEMISTRY; AND THREE IN RELATION TO BIOLOGY WERE INCORRECT AND ERRONEOUS. THE OPINION OF THE EXPERTS OF BOTH JODHPUR AND UDAIPUR UNIVERSITIES AS REGARDS THE SAID QUESTIONS WAS SAME, ACCORDING TO WHICH THE KEY ANSWERS, AS PROVIDED BY THE RESPONDENT UNIVERSITY, WERE ERRONEOUS. THE QUESTION AS TO WHETHER IN RESPECT OF THESE QUESTIONS, THE KEY ANSWERS PROVIDED BY THE UNIVERSITY WERE ERRONEOUS AND WRONG HAS NOT PRESENTED ANY DIFFICULTY TO THIS COURT IN VIEW OF A FAIR STAND TAKEN BY THE LEARNED COUNSEL FOR THE UNIVERSITY BEFORE US. THE LEARNED COUNSEL HAS ADMITTED THAT THE KEY ANSWERS WERE WRONG. THE SAID SIX QUESTIONS AND THE KEY ANSWERS, AS PROVIDED, AND THE CORRECT ANSWERS ARE AS UNDER:

S.QUESTIONSUBJECTANSWER AS PERCORRECT

NO.UNIVERSITY KEYANSWER

1.P54, Q 18, R7, S82PHYSICSAD

2.P39, Q26, R92, S27CHEMISTRYAB

3.P40, Q27, R93, S28CHEMISTRYCB

4.P6, Q26, R46, S31BIOLOGYDB

5.P80, Q90, R85, S55BIOLOGYBD

6.P81, Q91, R86, S56BIOLOGYAD

6. WE ARE NOT REFERRING TO THE ANSWERS GIVEN BY THE EXPERTS FROM JODHPUR AND UDAIPUR UNIVERSITIES IN RESPECT OF OTHER QUESTIONS IN VIEW OF THE DIFFERENCE OF OPINION AND ARE PROCEEDING ONLY ON THE BASIS OF THE ERRONEOUS KEY ANSWERS IN RELATION TO THE AFORESAID SIX QUESTIONS. AS TO THE IMPACT OF EVALUATING ANSWERS BY FEEDING INCORRECT KEYS, AT PRESENT, IT MAY NOT BE EXACTLY POSSIBLE TO COMMENT, ALSO KEEPING IN VIEW THE ADOPTION OF NEGATIVE- F MARKING SYSTEM AND A VERY TOUGH CUT-THROAT COMPETITION AMONGST THE STUDENTS.

7. WE MAY, HOWEVER, NOTE AS TO WHAT THE APPELLANTS HAVE BEEN TENTATIVELY PROJECTED. IT IS AS UNDER:

SL. ROLL STUDENTS CATEGORY

NO.NO.NAME

73159

MANISH UJWAL JEETAMAN CHOUDHARY

NUMBER QUESTIONS ATTEMPTED OUT OF SIX DISPUTED QUESTIONS

6

OF MARKS MARKS AS AS PER PER

ANSWER EXPERT

KEY OPINION

1.

OBC-B

729

753

2.

76893

OBC-B

4721

737

747 730

74550 DEEPIKA

VAISHNAV

78176 OM

PRAKASH

73048 SUDHEER

PRATAP GODHARA

78107 SURRENDER SINGH CHARAN

736