The Allahabad High Court has taken a decisive step in addressing the allegations of irregularities in the UP-PCSJ (Mains) 2022 examination by appointing retired Chief Justice Govind Mathur as the head of an independent commission. This development came as the Court heard several petitions claiming serious flaws in the examination process.
A bench comprising Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh and Justice Donadi Ramesh has tasked the commission with submitting a detailed report by May 31, 2025. The commission is to focus on enhancing the credibility and responsiveness of the UPPCS (J) Examination’s evaluation process to better meet the selection needs and maintain trust among all stakeholders, including the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC).
The commission’s mandate includes proposing ways to refine evaluation procedures, enforce new processes, and introduce mechanisms to prevent deviations from the established norms and practices. This comes in the wake of revelations about possible oversight failures that allowed errors to go unchecked prior to the announcement of the results on August 30, 2023.
These issues came to light following admissions by the UPPSC of errors in the merit list preparation for the 2022 examination. Lead petitioner Shravan Pandey and several others have raised concerns about tampering with answer sheets and inconsistencies in the marking system, prompting them to seek legal redress.
The overlapping nature of the petitions highlighted the necessity of a thorough inquiry to safeguard the integrity of judicial appointments. The court noted multiple areas needing attention, such as unexplained corrections in answer booklets, discrepancies in the evaluation process, and inconsistencies in the use of model answer keys which seemed to focus excessively on theoretical knowledge over practical legal analysis.
Further emphasizing the need for reform, the court outlined deficiencies including unchecked corrections by examiners and the absence of a consistent marking scheme across answer sheets. The commission is also tasked with examining these issues and ensuring all related documents and materials are preserved for thorough inspection.
The UPPSC has been directed to provide necessary resources and accommodations to facilitate the commission’s work, underscoring the urgency and importance of restoring confidence in the PCS-J examination process. The case is set to be revisited in the first week of July 2025, positioning it among the top ten cases to be heard by an appropriate bench.
Court passed the order after hearing Senior Advocate SFA Naqvi and Advocate Shashwat Anand, appearing for the petitioners.
