Post Failure Claims For Correction In Exam Forms Not Entertainable, Candidates Must Verify Details: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has held that post failure claims for correction in exam forms cannot be entertained and candidates must verify the details.

A division bench comprising Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Madhu Jain said that a candidate, for any examination, is expected to verify the details and make necessary corrections before finally submitting the online application.

It said that candidates cannot be allowed to approach the Court stating that they realised their mistake only when he or she failed to qualify.

“Such post-failure claims for correction are not entertainable. There may be numerous other candidates who similarly filled wrong particulars and were excluded. Giving benefit to one candidate now would deny the same benefit to others, disturbing equality,” the Court said.

The Bench dismissed a plea filed by a candidate who filed an application form for recruitment to the post of Constable (Executive) Male/ Female in the Delhi Police.

It was her case that she had filled the recruitment form through a cyber café and that at the time of filling up of the application form there was some network problem because of which she mistakenly mentioned wrong options for two questions asked.

She approached the CAT seeking correction of clerical errors and consideration of her candidature as eligible for relaxation as a ward of a Delhi Police employee. However, she was denied the relief.

Dismissing her plea, the division bench observed that the recruiting authority cannot be held responsible for her own mistakes, as the terms of the Advertisement explicitly provided that before applying, candidates should go through the given

instructions carefully and that requests for change or correction in any particulars in the Application Form, once submitted would not be entertained.

The Court noted that the answer to one of the questions was fundamental to the eligibility of the candidate as it would have entitled her to height relaxations which she required in order to fulfil the requisite criteria.

It held that the candidate, having participated in the selection process, cannot claim any field in the application form to be redundant or immaterial.

“For the aforesaid reasons, the present writ petition being bereft of merit is dismissed. The Impugned Order of the learned Tribunal is upheld,” the Court said.

Title: NISHA KHAN v. DELHI POLICE & ANR

Click here to read order