The Madhya Pradesh High Court has summoned the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission (MPPSC) for not giving marks to a petitioner despite two answers to one question being correct. The single-judge bench of Justice Sujay Paul issued notice to the Commission in this regard on Thursday. Three weeks’ time has been given for it to file a reply in the matter.
During the hearing, advocate Nityanand Mishra appeared on behalf of petitioner Vikram Singh, a resident of Rewa. He argued the petitioner participated in the MPPSC examination and missed the main examination by just two marks. The Counsel argued that a question was asked, to which two answers were correct. Therefore, as per the rules, the participants who gave both answers should have been awarded marks. But in doing so, only those who marked ‘D’ were given marks, while the petitioner, who marked ‘A’ was denied marks.
By attaching the list of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the petitioner’s advocate said both National Highways 3 and 8 do not touch Madhya Pradesh borders. Hence, both answers were correct.
There is a clear provision in the MPPSC manual that if more than one answer is correct, then marks will be awarded if the candidate marked any one of the correct options. Despite this, the petitioner was denied marks for the main examination. This has affected the future of the petitioner, who is currently posted at the Food Corporation of India (FCI). Had he been successful in the examination, he could have dreamed of becoming a deputy collector, claimed the Counsel.