The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to interfere with the schedule of the Bihar Public Service Commission’s (BPSC) 70th Combined Competitive Examination (Main), refusing to stall the process over allegations of a question paper leak during the Preliminary Examinations held on December 13, 2024.
A Bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan dismissed a series of petitions that sought cancellation of the entire examination process. The petitions, including one filed by Anand Legal Aid Forum Trust, alleged irregularities and demanded the constitution of a special Board to investigate the exam’s conduct.
Senior Advocates Anjana Prakash and Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioners, contended that there was evidence of the paper being leaked in advance via WhatsApp messages and that video clips existed showing answers being announced over loudspeakers at certain centres. The Bench, however, questioned the authenticity of such digital materials and noted that the allegations were primarily linked to a single centre – Bapu Pariksha Parisar – where a re-test had already been conducted for nearly 10,000 candidates.
Justice Manmohan observed that even as per the petitioners’ own submissions, the alleged leak occurred after candidates had already entered the exam halls. “Even if these claims are to be taken at face value, they don’t indicate a systemic failure across centres,” he said, further pointing out that “everyone is playing with the insecurities of each other,” and that it was unfortunate that no competitive exam could reach its conclusion without such controversies.
During the hearing, the Bench also addressed the allegation that 24 of the exam questions matched those given by coaching centres. Senior Advocate Gonsalves argued this indicated a leak, but Justice Manmohan responded that such overlaps were not uncommon in competitive exams. “In competitive exams, you find 30-40 percent questions come from the booklet which has thousands of questions,” he remarked, humorously recalling how in Delhi University’s Campus Law Centre, “duggies” (exam guides) were widely circulated and frequently accurate.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the State of Bihar and the BPSC, defended the Commission’s conduct, explaining that four sets of papers were prepared with jumbled questions to prevent malpractices. He also contested the petitioners’ claims, asserting that out of 150 questions, only two were verbatim matches with mock papers.
The petitions had originally been dismissed by the Patna High Court in March, which found no “definite evidence of malpractice at all centres.” The High Court had allowed BPSC to proceed with the Mains examination, which is scheduled for April 25. The present Special Leave Petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court challenged this High Court decision.
Justice Manmohan further cautioned that canceling entire exams based on limited allegations could set a dangerous precedent. “Please understand, the examiner standard is not that high,” he remarked, adding that such constant suspicion was disrupting the sanctity and finality of competitive examinations.
With nearly 5 lakh aspirants appearing across 900 centres, the BPSC 70th Combined Competitive Preliminary Exam is one of the largest recruitment exams in Bihar. The limited re-test allowed only for the candidates from the Bapu Pariksha Parisar centre had sparked protests, with demand from some quarters for scrapping the exam entirely and conducting it afresh.
However, with today’s dismissal of the pleas by the apex court, the path is now clear for the Mains to proceed as scheduled later this week.
