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Govt of NCT of Delhi and Others vs. Gajender Singh

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026:DHC:8192-DBDecided 21 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
W.P.(C) 13815/2026CNR: DLHC010449602026
Justice C. Hari Shankar · Justice Nivedita Anil Sharma

Background

Candidates for the post of Head Constable in Delhi Police complained that some written-examination questions were out of syllabus, vague, or unanswerable. The Central Administrative Tribunal directed that their grievance be examined by a committee headed by an outside academic expert, with an honorarium of Rs. 1.25 lakh. Delhi Police challenged the order only to the extent it required an "outsider" to head the review, preferring to use its own internal grievance committee instead.

Decision Breakdown

The Court noted there is no legal bar to the person who set the question paper sitting on a committee reviewing grievances about that paper, but given the specific concerns raised, it asked Delhi Police to confirm the reviewing committee would exclude the question-setter. On the government's assurance that it would, the Court modified the Tribunal's order to allow Delhi Police's own internal committee (minus the question-setter) to conduct the review, with four weeks to pass a reasoned, speaking order.

Lesson Learnt

In examination-grievance disputes, courts will ensure a genuinely independent review by keeping conflicted individuals like the question-setter off any review panel, while still respecting a recruiting authority's preference to use its own internal machinery rather than an outside expert.

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