Civil Services Exam 2023: Delhi HC asks CAT to ‘expeditiously’ decide plea for reduction of CSAT cut-off
The candidates had moved the CAT which had on June 9 issued a notice but refused to grant any interim relief and had listed the matter on July 6. The CSAT stands for Civil Services Aptitude Test.
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Appearing for the petitioner candidates, advocate Saaket Jain submitted that his clients were aggrieved by the CSE preliminary exam paper part II The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) to decide a plea moved by UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) candidates seeking a reduction in the cut-off from 33 per cent to 23 per cent for qualifying Part II (CSAT) paper of 2023 Civil Services Examination (CSE).
The results of the CSE 2023 prelims exam were declared on June 12. The candidates had moved the CAT which had on June 9 issued a notice but refused to grant any interim relief and had listed the matter on July 6. The CSAT stands for Civil Services Aptitude Test.
A division bench of Justice C Hari Shankar and Justice Manoj Jain ordered, “The learned CAT is requested to decide the OA (original application) as expeditiously as possible. Needless to say, keeping in accordance with the principles of natural justice. Petition stands disposed of.”
At the outset, the Court observed that the petitioners before the HC were aggrieved by the “non grant of interim stay by CAT”. “You want that UPSC be stayed from making any appointments on the basis of CSE, 2023,” the Court orally remarked.
Appearing for the petitioner candidates, advocate Saaket Jain submitted that his clients were aggrieved by the CSE preliminary exam paper part II. “CSE takes place in three stages; we are only concerned with the preliminary exam. Preliminary exam has two papers, General Studies (paper I) and paper II contain questions from reasoning, aptitude, and logical ability. In a statutory notification of the UPSC, the syllabus provides that the questions will be asked from the Class 10 level,” Jain said.
The bench, however, orally said: “Tribunal has not thrown out your case. It has issued notice on your OA. Matter is listed on July 6. No court will pass an order staying the entire CSE 2023. It is an ex facie prayer which can’t be granted.”
The Court further said there are a “plethora of SC judgments” saying that if some candidates come to court, however good their reason may be, don’t stay the entire recruitment.
The bench also said that a stay is granted not only on a “prima facie case” but also on the principles of “balance of convenience and irreparable loss”. The Court said that even on the principle of balance of convenience given the fact that there may be lakhs of students who are involved, “even if a 100 students go to court, balance of convenience can never be the stay of the entire result”.
The bench further said that there are decisions that say that the “court should not look at question papers to try and see whether questions are difficult, or beyond the syllabus”.
Jain argued that he was not touching the merits of the case but was just trying to show why his clients deserve interim relief in the matter. “It’s not only 100s of students who approached the court, but lakhs of students who have been affected by this. We have sent representations to the UPSC. Being a constitutional body, they have all the more responsibility to abide by the constitution,” Jain said.
On the issue of merits, the court orally said: “You are making us go through the notification… then we will go into it. We will address it. We will see whether the court can look into this aspect and assuming that it can, whether the questions are beyond the syllabus. In a vacation bench, we are doing it so we are doing it at your instance.”
The Court, thereafter, disposed of the plea after Jain requested that on July 6 when the matter is listed before CAT it may be decided expeditiously as it affects lakhs of students. The same was not opposed by advocate Naresh Kaushik who appeared for the UPSC.
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