Pay Rs 1 lakh to OJS aspirant for lapses in exam paper evaluation: Odisha HC tells OPSC
CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has awarded Rs 1 lakh compensation to a petitioner who sought judicial intervention alleging non-evaluation of answer to a question in the Odisha Judicial Service (Main) Examination.
The petitioner Jyotirmayee Dutta appeared for the OJS Main Exam 2022 in September 2023. The results were declared on December 4, 2023, but she could not qualify for the next stage of document verification and interview by a narrow margin of five marks.
Jyotirmayee filed a petition in the high court alleging that a question in the Law of Property paper was left unevaluated, and its marks were not added to the total. If her answers had been properly scrutinised, she would have qualified for the next stage.
On the high court’s intervention, her answer script was independently assessed by experts from three reputed universities. Non-evaluation of a question was confirmed and marks were awarded for the left-out question. But the petitioner did not achieve the necessary marks to pass the examination.
The two-judge bench of Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo and Justice Chittaranjan Dash dismissed the petition, but said, “However, considering the mental trauma and financial burden the petitioner endured in pursuing this case to highlight the said lapse, this court deems it appropriate to award compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the petitioner, which shall be paid by the OPSC within a period of 60 days from the date of this judgment.”
“It is made clear that the compensation is awarded to acknowledge the procedural flaw brought to light and to serve as a reminder for OPSC to maintain stricter scrutiny in its evaluation processes,” the bench clarified.
The bench stated that competitive examinations are the cornerstone of countless aspirations. These exams represent years of relentless preparation, often involving rigorous schedules, significant financial investments by families, and personal sacrifices. The stakes for these aspirants are extraordinarily high, as these exams often determine the trajectory of their future, the bench observed.
“It is, therefore, imperative for OPSC to exercise the highest level of scrutiny and adopt rigorous quality control measures,” the bench stated.
