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Arvind Kumar Tiwari & Ors. v. The State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors.

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2021 INSC 361Decided 26 Jul 2021
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1369 of 2018
Justice L. Nageswara Rao · Justice Aniruddha Bose

Background

The petitioners were Constables/Head Constables who took the UP Police "Sub-Inspector (Civil Police) Ranker's Examination 2000-2008" but were never given their marks, because they had failed to secure the minimum 50% required in each of the three objective-type subjects, which under the selection scheme meant their Hindi Essay papers were never even evaluated. They claimed they were entitled to the same relief as successful litigants in an earlier case (Raghuraj Singh), where the Court had directed that qualified candidates be accommodated against existing vacancies.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the petitioners were not similarly placed to the petitioners in Raghuraj Singh, because those petitioners had actually qualified in the selection process, whereas the present petitioners had failed to clear the mandatory 50% threshold in the objective-type subjects and were therefore correctly excluded before their Hindi Essay papers were ever assessed. The Court also rejected the argument that two subjects clubbed into one examination paper should be treated as a single subject for the 50% calculation, noting candidates were informed in advance that the two would be assessed separately. The writ petitions were accordingly dismissed, with the Court also noting a prior order declining to reopen a selection process conducted over a decade earlier.

Lesson Learnt

Relief granted to similarly situated litigants in an earlier case extends only to those who are, in fact, similarly placed on the merits; failing to clear a mandatory qualifying threshold in a competitive examination generally forecloses a claim to the same benefit given to candidates who did qualify.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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