By IANS
New Delhi : The Union Public Service Commission Thursday moved the Delhi High Court challenging its single bench order to disclose the cut-off marks of the 2006 Civil Service Preliminary Examinations as well as the individual scores of the candidates and the grading system in various subjects.
Filing a review petition, the UPSC, the government recruitment agency, has sought the direction of the court to set aside its April 17 order by Justice B.D. Ahmed, endorsing the Central Information Commission’s (CIC) order on the need for transparency in UPSC examination pattern and the evaluation process of the answer sheets.
The UPSC contended that its examination pattern and the evaluation process would be irreparably damaged if it is forced to reveal its various ingredients like individual scores, cut-off marks in each subjects, grading and scaling system, etc.
Disclosure of the information sought for has the real potential to cause serious damage to the examination system, said the petition filed by counsel Binu Tamta for the UPSC.
If the marks are disclosed, it would lead to mushrooming growth of coaching institutes of interested group of aspirants all over the country, the UPSC’s petition said.
Talking about the importance of the examination, the UPSC said about 400,000 candidates apply and 200,000 appear at the examination for about 450 posts.
While dismissing the petition of the UPSC on April 17, Justice Ahmed had said “In any event, the public interest in disclosure is overwhelming and I am of the view that the CIC has approached the matter in the correct perspective and has issued the directions for disclosure of the information.”
The UPSC being a public body, is required to act and conduct itself in a fair and transparent manner. It would also be in public interest that this fairness and transparency is displayed by revealing the information sought by the candidates, Justice Ahmed’s 27-page order had said.
The marks, which had been obtained by the candidates who appeared in the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examinations, are not to be counted for the final selection which would be based entirely on the Main Examination and the interview to follow.
“Therefore I see no harm in the disclosure of the marks, as directed by the CIC,” said the judge.