W.P(C) No. 4147/2012. Case: Archit Krishna Vs National Law University & Anr.. High Court of Delhi (India)

Case NumberW.P(C) No. 4147/2012
CounselFor Appellant: Mr. R. K. Handoo and Mr. Yoginder Handoo, Mr. Manish Shukla and Mr. Yogesh Sharma, Advs. and For Respondents: Mr. Anand Varma, Adv.
JudgesV. K. Jain, J.
IssueIndian Contract Act, 1872 - Section 70; Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act; Constitution of India - Article 226
Judgement DateJuly 19, 2013
CourtHigh Court of Delhi (India)

Judgment:

V. K. Jain, J.

1. The petitioner before this Court appeared in Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), 2012 conducted by the respondents for the purpose of admission to various national law schools / universities. The said test is conducted by one or the other national law college/university, on a rotational basis. In the application form, the candidates were required to give preference for the universities/colleges participating in the said test. The petitioner was required to choose all the 14 colleges/ universities granting admission on the basis of the aforesaid test, in the order of their preference. The first four colleges/ universities indicated by the petitioner, in the order of preference, were NLSIU-Bangalore, NALSAR-Hyderabad, NLIU-Bhopal and WBNUJS-Kolkata. The petitioner obtained 141 marks in the said test and considering his position in the merit list, he could get admission in WBNUJS-Kolkata, which was the fourth preference exercised by him. The grievance of the petitioner is that the answers notified by the respondents in respect of as many as four questions was incorrect, as a result of which he was given 141 marks though he should have been given 145 marks. According to him, had he been given 145 marks, to which he was lawfully entitled, he would have got admission in NLSIU-Bangalore, which was his first choice out of 14 schools/ universities participating in the test. According to him, even 142 marks to him would have ensured his admission to NALSAR-Hyderabad, which was his second choice in the order of preference. The petitioner is accordingly seeking the following reliefs:

  1. issue appropriate writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, direction or order, directing the respondents to transfer petitioner''s admission to NLSIU, Bangalore or NALSAR-Hyderabad, on the basis of merit cum preference, after correcting the wrong answers and setting right the anomalies in the question paper and/or;

  2. to direct the respondents to award 4 additional marks to the petitioner;

  3. to direct the respondents to submit before this Hon''ble Court the OMR answer sheet of the petitioner.

2. The respondent has contested the petition and taken a preliminary objection that the issue involved in this writ petition stands covered by a decision of this Court dated 31.7.2012 in W.P(C) No.3732/2012, where this Court rejected the challenge to the aforesaid examination, which included challenge to the answers notified by the respondent in respect of certain questions, including Question No. 56 and 197 which are subject matter of this writ petition. On merits, the respondent has maintained that the answers notified in the answer-key are correct answers.

3. The challenge in present writ petition is confined to Question Nos. 56, 75, 193 and 197. As far as challenge to the answer to Question No.56 is concerned, a perusal of the order dated 31.7.2012 passed by this Court in W.P(C) No.3732/2012 would show that the challenge was expressly rejected by this Court in the said decision. However, no view was expressed by this Court with respect to answer to questions no.75, 193 and 197. Therefore, I propose to examine whether the answers contained in the answer-key to question nos.75, 193 and 197 can be said to be so patently and unquestionably incorrect as to warrant interference by the Court in exercise of its writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution. The aforesaid questions read as under:

4. Question no.197:

The Right to Equality is guaranteed by

(A) Article 14 to 18

(B) Article 14

(C) Article 14 and 15

(D) Article 14, 15 and 16.

As per answer-key, the...

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