Partly allowed

The Chairman Bihar School Examination Board and Ors. v. Brajesh Kumar and Anr.

Patna HC15 May 2015L.P.A/1330/2014

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

In a Letters Patent Appeal, the two-judge Bench upheld the Single Judge's order restoring original marks for English and Hindi but set aside the direction to restore the respondent's rank due to potential complications and established guidelines for re-evaluation.

What did the court decide?

Marks restored to original levels in English and Hindi; direction to restore rank set aside; reference to Board for rank allocation.

The Chairman Bihar School Examination Board and Ors… — Education and Admissions | Patna HC (2015)

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

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Letters Patent Appeal No.1330 of 2014

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Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No. 12277 of 2013

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=========================================================== 1. The Chairman, Bihar School Examination Board, Patna.

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The Secretary, Bihar School Examination Board, Patna.

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The Assistant Secretary, Bihar School Examination Board, Patna.

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.... .... Respondents- Appellant/s

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Versus

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Brajesh Kumar (under guardianship of father), son of Hareram Mahto,

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Resident of Village - Kumharson (Kumhartol), P.O. - Kumharson, P.S. - Grahpura, District - Begusarai.

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Petitioner-Respondent .... .... Respondent- Respondent/s

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The State of Bihar through the Secretary, H.R.D., Goverrnment of Bihar, Patna.

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=========================================================== Appearance : For the Appellants : Mr. Satyabir Bharti, Advocate For the Respondent no.1 : Mr. Shree Prakash Srivastava, Advocate Mr. Sanjay Kumar Pandey, Advocate For the Respondent No.2 : Mr. Sudhir Kumar, A.C. to A.A.G.-2

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===========================================================

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CORAM: HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE And

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HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHIR SINGH

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ORAL JUDGMENT

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(Per: HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE)

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Date: 15-05-2015

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The Letters Patent Appeal arises out of order dated

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25.02.2014 passed by the learned Single Judge in CWJC No.12277 of

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Patna High Court LPA No.1330 of 2014 dt.15-05-2015

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The 1^st respondent filed the writ petition, with a prayer to command the appellants herein, to produce his marks file and marks register maintained by the Bihar School Examination Board, Patna, and to restore the marks secured by him in the first evaluation.

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The 1^st respondent studied 12^th Class in A.R. K. High School, Kumharson, Begusarai, in the academic year 2012-13. The examinations were held in February, 2013 and results were declared thereafter. It is stated that when the 1^st respondent down loaded the marks, it was revealed that he secured 402 marks, which comprised of 60 marks in English, and several discrepancies were noticed in the mark sheet. Similar situation is said to have existed in the Hindi subject.

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The 1^st respondent submitted an application seeking permission to verify the original records. It emerged that the Chairman of the Board had taken a decision on 12.05.2013 to the effect that answer sheets of the candidates, who figured in top 1 to 20 positions must be re-evaluated and, in the process, the marks in the English subject, which were originally awarded as 79 were reduced to 60, and in the Hindi subject, the original marks of 35 were reduced to 26. In all, the 1^st respondent has suffered the loss to the extent of 28 marks. It is in this context, that the writ petition was filed.

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Patna High Court LPA No.1330 of 2014 dt.15-05-2015

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The appellants sought to justify their action stating that though the decision of the Board, taken in March, 2013 was to get the answer scripts re-evaluated, if the candidate was awarded 80% marks or more, the Chairman had taken a decision at a later point of time, in exercise of the power conferred upon him, under the Bihar School Examination Board Act, 1952 (for short, ‘the Act’) to get the answer sheets of the candidates, who figured in top 20 positions also, reevaluated.

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The learned Single Judge was not impressed with the reasons assigned by the appellants, and allowed the writ petition. Directions were issued to restore the original marks of the 1^st respondent as well as his position. Hence, the appeal.

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Heard Sri Satyabir Bharti, learned counsel for the appellants, and Sri Shree Prakash Srivastava, learned counsel for the 1^st respondent.

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The Board is conferred with the power to prescribe the guidelines for conducting of examinations as well as for evaluation of the marks, and then to declare the results. Normally, the guidelines in this behalf are required to be framed before the examination takes place. Once the examinations are held, the procedure or guidelines for evaluation or for declaration of result cannot be changed. The second aspect is that it is the Board is conferred with such power, and well

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Patna High Court LPA No.1330 of 2014 dt.15-05-2015

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informed decision has to be taken in this behalf.

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In the instant case, the Board is said to have taken a decision to direct re-evaluation of the answer scripts, wherever the candidate is awarded 80% marks or more in a subject. This may be obviously with a view to ensure that no favouritism or mal-practices takes place in the examination or evaluation.

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It is brought to the notice of the Court that in all subjects, other than Hindi and English, the 1^st respondent was awarded more than 80% marks, and in re-evaluation, the marks virtually remained the same. The controversy is only about the marks secured in Hindi and English.

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It is only on the basis of the decision taken by the Chairman of the Board on 12.05.2013 that the answer scripts of the 1^st respondent in English and Hindi were also ordered to be re-evaluated. This was on the ground that the 1^st respondent figured in top 20 positions.

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The learned Single Judge has taken into account the provision, under which the Chairman acted, and held that it was meant only to meet the emergency situation, but not in a routine manner. Even otherwise, the very purpose of constituting the Board is to ensure that a collective decision is taken after elucidating the views of the members of the Board. The direction, as to re-evaluation of answer

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Patna High Court LPA No.1330 of 2014 dt.15-05-2015

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scripts only on the ground that the candidates figured in the top 20 positions, could have been taken only by the Board, that too by assigning appropriate reasons. If a candidate was awarded fairly high marks, valuable right accrues to him, and that cannot be taken away, on the basis of a whimsical decision of the Chairman or any other officer. The fact that in re-evaluation, the 1^st respondent was awarded same marks in all subjects, except Hindi and English, needs to be taken into account, and an element of uncertainty cannot be injected in the process of crucial stage of the career of the student.

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We, therefore, agree with the direction issued by the learned Single Judge for restoration of the original marks to the 1^st respondent in the subjects of English and Hindi. However, the direction to restore the rank would lead to certain complication. The reason is that on the basis of re-evaluation, several changes have taken place, and the 1^st respondent cannot be interpolated in the list, unless another candidate is disturbed. That, in turn, would lead to chain reaction.

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We, therefore, partly allow the appeal, by setting aside that part of the order passed in the writ petition, which directed restoration of the rank of the 1^st respondent, but upholding rest of the order.

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Patna High Court LPA No.1330 of 2014 dt.15-05-2015

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Interlocutory application, if any, shall stand disposed of.

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There shall be no order as to costs.

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(L. Narasimha Reddy, CJ)

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(Sudhir Singh, J) AFR Sunil/U

The Chairman Bihar School Examination Board and Ors. v. Brajesh Kumar and Anr.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

The Chairman Bihar School Examination Board and Ors. v. Brajesh Kumar and Anr.

Case brief

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