Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 19: Division Bench of State High Court comprising Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar and Justice Bansi Lal Bhat today upheld the order of Writ Court whereby it had held that Board of Professional Entrance Examination (BOPEE) has sufficient powers to nullify absurd questions and questions with wrong options.
The DB passed the order in bunch of LPAs challenging the Common Entrance Test 2014 conducted by the Jammu & Kashmir Board of Professional Entrance Examinations on June 7 and 8, 2014.
The answer key was published on the website of the Board on July 8, 2014 and liberty was given to the candidates to make representations in respect of any error in the answer key within two days from the date of such publication.
According to the Board, 276 representations were received from the candidates against the answer key and the same were referred to the Expert Committees along with material relied upon by the candidates in support of their individual representations.
The Expert Committees considered the representations and recommended nullifications of 17 questions and change in answer of two questions, one each in Biology and Chemistry. The Board published the revised answer key on its website. The result was, accordingly, notified on the basis of evaluation of merit of candidates as per the revised key.
However, the appellants assailed the decision taken by the Board in regard to nullification of 17 questions and change in answer of two questions on the ground that the decision was taken without competence and authority and that one of the answers to nullified questions was correct and its nullification was not justified.
The Division Bench observed, “it appears that three committees, each comprising of three non local subject experts with doctorate in the subject and 10 years teaching experience to their credit were constituted. Thus, fairness and impartiality was ensured and arbitrariness was ruled out”.
“The Writ Court found that the subject experts of each of the committees had unanimously recommended nullification of questions referred to them. The Board accordingly took the decision and the questions were nullified /deleted. It is not disputed that the decision taken by the subject experts was final and could not be questioned as specifically provided in the Information Brochure”, the DB said, adding “in so far as grievance of the appellants regarding non observance of rules of natural justice are concerned, the same is an argument in despair. In the wake of unanimous opinion of three subject experts, in regard to absurdity or wrongness of multiple options given, providing of an opportunity to the appellants to lay proof to the contrary would be a futile exercise”.
“Conducting of such exercise is also impracticable, given the fixed time schedule. It is also fraught with serious consequences. The court cannot substitute its own view in place of the view taken by the experts. It would also not be prudent to reopen such decision, as the grievances would continue to pour in, resulting in reopening of the selection process every time a grievance is projected, and subjecting all selections made to reevaluation thereby imperiling the legitimate interests of selected candidates”, the DB said.
“After all, there has to be an end to the selection process and same cannot be subjected to reevaluation every time an aggrieved candidate steps in to register a grievance. The mechanism adopted for redressal of grievances of candidates by filing representations within two days of the publication of the answer key with subject experts of impeccable character nominated by the Test Coordinator from outside the State of Jammu and Kashmir, sufficiently takes care of genuine grievances of the candidates in regard to absurdity or wrong multiple options of questions”, the DB further said.
With these observations, Division Bench dismissed the LPAs. However, the DB placed on record deep sense of anguish in regard to the methodology adopted for selection of multiple choice questions with high rate of error probability as coming to fore in the instant case.
“The fact that as many as 17 questions had to be nullified / deleted and the answers of two questions had to be changed on the advice of the subject experts demonstrates lack of care on the part of the Board in allowing such large scale errors, oblivious of the fact that complacency on the part of the Board authorities would jeopardize the legitimate interests of the student community aspiring to seek berths in professional institutions”, the DB observed.
The DB stressed that the Board has to be vigilant and immediate remedial measures are to be adopted to plug all the loopholes in the system and leave no room for grievance to crop up. “Every year Common Entrance Test brings a fresh wave of litigation leaving a number of candidates with no choice but to resort to litigation which is highly undesirable”, the DB noted with concern and hoped that the Board authorities would rise to the occasion and take a final call in the matter, so as to ensure a litigation free Common Entrance Test process.
The DB directed Registry to send copies of this judgment to the Chief Secretary of the State, as also to the Chairman, J&K Board of Professional Entrance Examination, for taking necessary steps.
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