HC cancels KAS mains, says hold exam afresh

The court allows 429 candidates dropped from the first prelims list to give mains

The Jammu and Kashmir high court on Tuesday directed the Public Service Commission (PSC) to cancel the ongoing mains examination of Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS) and hold it afresh along with the additional candidates who were left out by the commission’s re-evaluation process of preliminary results.

The court said that it has been left with no option but to direct the cancellation of the mains examination at whatever stage it is at the present after PSC did not allow at-least 429 candidates, out of the 6,925 shortlisted in prelims, to appear in the mains examination.

These candidates were barred by the PSC after it re-evaluated the preliminary results following the representations that answer key was wrong and issued a revised list. A group of 25 candidates from the dropped 429 candidates approached the single bench of the high court which subsequently allowed them to appear in the mains examination.

The PSC then appealed before the double bench of high court saying that if they allowed the 429 candidates, it would be totally unjust and unfair to the other 2,365 candidates whose marks are greater than the candidate who comes at last rank among these 429. A division bench of Justice Janak Raj Kotwal and Justice Sanjeev Kumar Shukla set certain conditions before the commission goes ahead with the mains examinations.

Besides the candidates who figure in the list after re-evaluation, the court also directed the PSC to permit 429 candidates who were shortlisted in the first result of the preliminary examination but couldn’t participate in the main exam on the basis of their merit determined by the process of re-evaluation.

It also directed the PSC to permit 2,365 candidates who have obtained higher merit in the process of re-evaluation equal to or more than the marks secured by the last candidate amongst 429 candidates.

“Since the examination in question has been delayed due to litigation, we hope and trust that the appellant (PSC) makes immediate steps to hold the main examination and complete the whole process culminating into the declaration of the result without any further wastage of time,” the judgement said.

Since the exam has been delayed due to litigation, we hope and trust that the appellant (PSC) makes immediate steps to hold the main examination. THE JUDGEMENT SAID