KARNATAKA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION

KARNATAKA PUBLIC SERVICE

COMMISSION

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Karnataka PSC

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Karnataka PSC

IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BANGALORE

Writ Petition Nos.12548-12589/2002 & connected cases

D.D. 11.10.2002

The Hon¡¯ble Mr. Justice R.V.Raveendran

&

The Hon¡¯ble Mr. Justice K.L.Manjunath

Karnataka Public Service Commission

...

Petitioner

...

Respondents

Vs.

Linganna Kuchabal & Others

Examination ¨C Examination malpractice:

Respondents-candidates for Gazetted Probationers 1998 Examination approached KAT seeking

revaluation of their compulsory Kannada/English language papers ¨C They also alleged that some

successful candidates indulged in examination malpractice in collusion with and connivance of

Examiners/officials of the Commission ¨C KAT allowed the applications and quashed the valuation

and directed fresh valuation of answer scripts in all subjects ¨C Aggrieved by the same the

Commission and some successful candidates filed these writ petitions before the High Court ¨C

After examining the case in detail and in view of in-house enquiry report of the Sub Committee

of the Commission identifying the candidates who indulged in examination malpractice and

proposing to take action against them, set aside the order of KAT directing fresh valuation and

upheld valuation in respect of 10 subjects (2 papers each) and directed moderation/scaling in

respect of 20 subjects (2 papers each).

Held:

Where a large number of answer scripts are to be evaluated, obviously they cannot be evaluated

by a single examiner. The answer scripts relating to the same subject are therefore distributed to

several Examiners, for evaluation. When there is more than one or when there are several

Examiners for evaluation of the answer scripts relating to a subject, usually two problems arise:

(i)

Each Examiner will have his own perception as to what is the right answer. In

fact some Examiners may not even know what exactly is the correct answer, leading

to incorrect evaluation.

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Karnataka PSC

(ii) Each examiner will have his own method of awarding marks. While some

may be highly conservative or ¡®stingy¡¯ in awarding marks, some may be highly

liberal or ¡®generous¡¯ in awarding marks. There may also be different levels of

¡®stinginess¡¯ or ¡®generousness¡¯ among the Examiners.

To iron out the natural creases arising in evaluation, it is necessary to adopt certain procedural

safeguards to ensue that no candidate is unjustly benefited or placed at a disadvantage, vis-a-vis

the other candidates and to ensure that the evaluation is uniform and consistent.

Further held:

P.S.C. should have such number of examiners as are required with reference to number of answer

scripts to be evaluated and number of days allotted for evaluation. It should be remembered that

more number of evaluators means more chances of variation and need for more moderation.

Ideally the number of examiners should be kept to the minimum, so that the chances of variation

in evaluation is also the minimum. In future PSC may consider fixing a ratio between the

number of answer scripts and the Examiners for evaluation and avoid unnecessarily large number

of examiners being appointed in some subjects.

Cases referred:

1. AIR 1974 SC 1155 ¨C GM, South Central Railway, Secunderanad Vs. A.V.R. Siddhanti

2. AIR 1985 SC 167 ¨C Proboth Verma vs. State of Uttar Pradesh

3. AIR1984 SC 1543 ¨C Maharashtra State Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education

& Ors. Vs. Paritosh Bhupesh Kurmarsheth

4. 2000 (10) SCC 196 ¨C Ex-Constable Chotelal Vs. Union of India

5. 2002 (4) SCC 503 ¨C Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangthan Vs. Ajaykumar Das

ORDER

Karnataka Public Service Commission [KPSC] issued a notification dated 9.3.1998

inviting applications for recruitment to the post of Gazetted Probationers [Group A and B posts],

in pursuance of a request of the State Government made on 4-2-1998 to select 415 candidates for

Group-A and Group-B posts. In response to said notification, KPSC received 85598 applications.

On scrutiny 79130 candidates were found eligible for preliminary examination. The mode of

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selection is governed by the Karnataka Recruitment of Gazetted Probationers [Appointment by

Competitive Examination] Rules, 1997 [for short, the ¡®Recruitment Rules¡¯], made by the

Government of Karnataka in exercise of powers under Section 3(1) read with Section 8 of the

Karnataka State Civil Services Act, 1978.

2. Rule 4 of the Recruitment Rule requires that a combined competitive examination for

recruitment to one or more of the services or group of posts (mentioned in Schedule I to the

Rules) shall be held every year, subject to availability of vacancies, in the manner set out in

Schedule II to the Rules. As per the scheme of examination contained in Schedule II to the

Rules, the competitive examination comprises two stages viz., (i) preliminary examination

[objective type] for selection of candidates for the main examination; and (ii) main examination

[written examination and personality test] for selection of candidates to the posts, to be held as

follows:

A. PRELIMINARY EXAINATION: The preliminary examination shall consist two papers of

objective type (multiple choice).

Paper I

General Studies

Paper II

One Subject to be

150 marks

selected from the list

of optional subjects

Total

300 marks

450 marks

Note 1 to 3: xxxx (not relevant)

Note 4: The number of candidates to be admitted to the main examination shall

be 20 times the vacancies notified for recruitment in the order of merit, on the

basis of the performance in the preliminary examination subject to accommodating

in the same ratio adequate number of candidates belonging to the categories of

scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and each of the other backward classes.

B. MAIN EXAMINATION: The main examination shall consist of written examinations and

Personality Test:

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