Qualifying Marks should be fixed during Selection Process

Arunachal Pradesh Public service Commission v. Tage Habung

Judgement 1st may 2013

The Apex Court allowed the appeal petition of Arunachal Pradesh Public service commission in Arunachal Pradesh Public service Commission v. Tage Habung and held that the power exercised by the Commission in fixing the qualifying marks in the written exam in the process of conducting recruitment test (for the recruitment of candidates for the Group A and B post under Arunachal Pradesh government) cannot be interfered with by this Court. The court observed that there should be some yardstick to be followed by the commission for short listing the candidates and held that fixation of qualifying marks of 33% in the written test cannot be held to be illegal or arbitrary action of the commission merely because it was notified in the process of conducting recruitment test.

The question before the apex court was whether the appellants were justified in fixing the minimum 33% qualifying mark in all subjects as qualification to appear in viva-voce test. In the case, the Arunachal Pradesh Public service Commission had invited application for appearance in competitive exam for the selection to post under Arunachal Pradesh government. The advertisement provided that the selection shall be made by Public service commission subject to the fixing of minimum qualifying marks by the commission for the preliminary and main exams. The commission had provided through a notification that 40% marks in English were required to qualify the exam and appear in viva.

Rule 11 of Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Combined Competitive Examination Rules provides that commission is empowered with discretion to fix qualifying marks for the preliminary and mains exam and to shortlist the candidates in accordance to the same. The rules do not provide that the commission is empowered to fix qualifying marks for viva. In the present case, the commission did not fix qualifying marks for viva. The rules also do not mandate or provide that the qualifying marks for the exam should be disclosed in advertisement that invited applications for the post or be disclosed before the conduct of exam.

Meanwhile, after the invitation of applications and after the conduct of exams, the Arunachal Pradesh government issued Office Memorandum whereby it instructed the procedure for recruitment of candidates to the Group A and B under Arunachal Pradesh government wherein it provided that the candidates securing a minimum of 33% or more marks in each written examination papers and having secured 45% of marks out of aggregate total marks in the written examination papers shall be eligible for viva-voce test. This provision was adopted by the Arunachal Pradesh commission and through a notification notified to general public and list of qualifying candidates as per the said qualifying marks was issued replacing the earlier notification.

The candidates not successful in exam challenged this notification stating that fixation of qualifying during the conduct of exams had disallowed the candidate from appearing in viva and was illegal and arbitrary. The matter came before the Division bench of high court that held against the commission and finally the matter came before the Supreme Court.

The Apex Court relying upon various court judgments observed “the merit of a candidate and his suitability is always assessed with reference to his performance at the examination and it for the purpose of adjudging the merit and suitability of a candidate, that the Commission has to fix minimum qualifying marks in the written examination in order to qualify in the viva voce test.

The Supreme Court also observed that “fixing the qualifying marks in the viva-voce test after the commencement of the process of selection is not justified but fixing some criteria for qualifying a candidate in the written examination is necessary in order to shortlist the candidates for participating in the interview. 

The court also observed and noted the fact that Rule 11 of Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Combined Civil Service Examination Rules empowered the Commission to fix minimum qualifying marks for the purpose of short listing the candidates for interview. The Court held that thus the power exercised by the Commission under Rule 11 of 2001 Rules for fixing the qualifying marks in the written examination in the process of conducting the recruitment test cannot be interfered with by this Court. The Court noted various Supreme Court decisions wherein it had been held that court while exercising its power of judicial review can ordinary interfere with the power that had been bestowed upon a constitutional body like Public service commission which is constitutional authority and had been bestowed with the power to decide as to how the candidates shall be selected for the selective post. The Court said that the Public Service shall accordingly evolve a procedure that shall be useful to the selection for best candidates for the respective post.

The Court thus held that the fixation of qualifying marks as 33% in the written examination cannot be held to be illegal or arbitrary action of the Commission merely because it was notified in the process of conducting recruitment tests and the power exercised by the Commission cannot be interfered with by Court.