SC sets aside Allahabad HC order; no stay on UPPSC mains exam on June 18

The Supreme Court today refused to stay the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission mains examination on June 18 and set aside the Allahabad High Court order for a re-evaluation of answer sheets of the preliminary test.

A vacation bench of justices U U Lalit and Deepak Gupta allowed the appeal of UPPSC against the high court order. The bench dismissed petitions by students, who had demanded a stay on the mains examination saying UPPSC has not complied with the high court order.

"We allow the appeal of the UPPSC and set aside the high court order. The petitions seeking stay of mains examination are dismissed," the bench said.

On Tuesday, the apex court said the sanctity of an examination would be lost if courts through their power of judicial review keep interfering with the decisions taken by authorities conducting competitive tests.

The top court said a line needs to be drawn to determine to what extent a judicial review can be allowed of the decisions taken by authorities conducting the examinations.

It was hearing a plea by students seeking stay or cancellation of an upper-subordinate services exam conducted by UPPSC.

The students have alleged in the plea that answers to several questions asked in UPPSC's preliminary examination held last year were "incorrect". They also said UPPSC has not followed the Allahabad High Court's March 30 order directing for re-evaluation of answer sheets of the preliminary test.

The mains examination, which was postponed earlier, is now scheduled to be held on June 18.

In its March 30 order, the high court also said that candidates found to have qualified the preliminary examination as a result of re-evaluation would be entitled to appear in the main written exam.

UPPSC had challenged the high court's order in the top court, which had on May 18 stayed the high court's directive.

The high court had refused to direct the commission to hold the preliminary examination afresh and asked for re-evaluation of answer sheets of all candidates after deleting one question.

UPPSC conducted the examination for 677 posts of upper-subordinate services of the state for which advertisement was issued on February, 2017.

The preliminary examination for 677 posts was conducted in September 2017.