Reveal answer books, interview marks: Supreme Court to PSCs

The Supreme Court ruling asking two public service commissions to disclose answer papers and marks obtained during interview may set a precedent for the touch-me-not Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) that selects India’s bureaucracy through competitive exams but suffers from a long-standing criticism of lack of transparency and public scrutiny.

On Thursday, in a landmark judgment, the apex court asked the Kerala Public Service Commission and Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission to disclose answer papers and marks tabulated during the oral interviews.

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• Reveal answer books, interview marks: Supreme Court to PSCs

The Supreme Court judgment will go a long way in reposing faith in the system and establish accountability, said Sriram Srirangam, director at Sriram’s IAS, a civil service coaching school. “Civil Service exams conducted by UPSC is one of most high stake exams in the country not just from the point of view of the career of students but also in terms of economic and social policy-making as it’s the bureaucracy that’s runs the county effectively,” he said.

Srirangam said civil service aspirants are always confused about what kind of answers could get them better marks. “When a candidate is preparing for the best career option in the country, he needs to know how he performed in the exam and how his answer papers have been evaluated. “How will an exam conducting body establish transparency and accountability without disclosing answer papers and marks obtained?” he asked.

In the Thursday ruling, the Supreme Court said: “So far as the information sought for by the respondents with regard to the supply of scanned copies of his answer sheet of the written test, copy of the tabulation sheet and other information, we are of the opinion that the view taken in the impugned judgment with regard to the disclosure of these information, does not suffer from error of law and the same is fully justified.”

“Disclosing the marks and the answer sheets to the candidates will ensure that the candidates have been given marks according to their performance in the exam. This practice will ensure fair play in this competitive environment, where a candidate puts his time in preparing for the competitive exams,” the court observed.

Public service commissions both at the Union and state levels have long faced criticism over their refusal to disclose marks obtained in entrance exams for government jobs.

Pramod Kumar, a civil service aspirant in Delhi, said if Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) can disclose the answer papers of joint entrance exam (JEE), why can’t UPSC do the same for civil service exams and other high stake entrance exams that it conducts.

“The long standing demand from the civil service aspirants’ community is for a transparent exam where every candidate knows what he scored and where he faltered. If USPC is in charge of giving country IAS (Indian Administrative Service), IPS (Indian Police Service) and IFS (Indian Foreign Service) officials, then it must operate like a glass house,” Kumar said.

On Thursday, hearing appeals from the Kerala and Uttar Pradesh public service commissions against the decision of the respective high courts, the Supreme Court ruled that such disclosure of answer papers and mark sheets of interviews if asked for “do not suffer from error of law”.