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Tongbram Bimolchand Singh v. Yumlembam Surjit Singh

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 331Decided 12 Apr 2018
Civil Appeal Nos. 3752-3753 of 2018
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar · Justice Navin Sinha

Background

Some successful candidates in a Manipur Civil Services selection conducted by the Manipur Public Service Commission (MPSC) appealed against an interim High Court of Manipur order that directed re-verification of the answer scripts of all participating candidates, not just those who had gone to court. They argued the re-verification should be confined to the writ petitioners who actually approached the High Court. While the appeal was pending, the Supreme Court first limited the scope of the ongoing re-verification to just those petitioners, and later received a Committee report finding "quite a few irregularities" in the examination process.

Decision Breakdown

Having heard counsel for the State, the MPSC, the appellants, and the intervenors, and taking into account the irregularities flagged by the Committee's report, the Supreme Court held that the verification process already directed by the High Court should not be disturbed. It disposed of the appeals by directing the Committee to complete the verification as originally directed by the High Court, expeditiously and in any case within six weeks, after which the Committee would submit its report to the High Court, which would then dispose of the underlying matter on its merits. The Supreme Court expressly clarified that it had not examined or decided the appeals on merits, leaving that entirely to the High Court.

Lesson Learnt

When credible evidence of irregularities surfaces during litigation over an examination or selection process, courts are likely to let an already-ordered verification process run its course rather than narrow it on procedural objections, while leaving the final merits of the dispute to be decided by the appropriate court once that verification is complete.

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

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