The Gujarat High Court on Thursday stayed the Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC) over its affidavit on the petition filed by a candidate, stating that the commission’s affidavit was “nothing but contempt”.
In previous hearings, Justice Nirzar S. Desai questions the procedure adopted by the commission to authenticate online materials before using them to frame questions in examinations conducted by the Public Service Recruitment Authority. But she did not get a clear response.
“My order was very specific. What I asked for has not been answered. This is nothing but contempt, according to me. I propose to pass a contempt order against both your secretary and your president,” Justice Desai said in an oral remark on April 2.
The court is considering a lawsuit filed by a candidate who failed to pass the exam with one mark and challenged the validity of the answer required by the conscription body to a question regarding ArthashastraKautilya’s classic treatise on economics and politics.
In earlier proceedings, the Supreme Court had asked the GPSC to produce the original book from which the question was framed, the 1915 English translation of the book. Arthashastra.
When the GPSC informed the court that the physical copy of the book was not available and the Commission relied on an electronic copy of the book downloaded from the Internet.
The court then asked the committee to clarify whether questions could be formulated from materials downloaded from the internet and whether there was any policy to document such materials before using them in question papers for recruitment examinations.
The committee also attempted to transfer responsibility for the questions to the subject matter experts appointed by the committee to determine the question paper and answer key. But the Supreme Court did not allow the committee to escape punishment, asking whether there were specific provisions that exempted it from its responsibility.
The court directed GPSC to file a detailed affidavit by April 7, clearly stating whether there was any policy to verify materials downloaded from the internet, and on what basis the online materials used to frame the question were treated as a reliable source.
