Supreme Court: answer-key doubts favor exam authority, not candidates

The case concerns a dispute over the correct answer to a specific question in a Village Development Officer recruitment exam, where the Supreme Court is determining whether the High Court was justified in interfering with the Commission's decision to mark option 'B' as the only correct answer.

Who it concerns: Appellant: Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Service Selection Commission; Respondents: Ashok Yadav & Ors.; Bench: Not stated in the provided text.

What the court decided

• The Court framed the issue: 'Whether the High Court was justified in interfering with Commission’s decision to pick Option ‘B’ as the only correct answer to the concerned question?'
• The Court examined the scope of judicial review in adjudging the correctness of key answers, citing principles from Ran Vijay Singh v. State of U.P. that courts should presume the correctness of key answers and interfere only in rare or exceptional cases of material error.

Also in the document

• The provided text is truncated and does not contain the final judgment or operative order resolving the dispute.
• The Court noted that the High Court's impugned order was based on an expert report dated 10.08.2020, which indicated that both option 'B' and 'C' could be considered correct depending on the interpretation (authorship vs. subject matter).
• The Court cited the principle that in the event of a doubt regarding the correctness of an answer key, the benefit should go to the examination authority rather than the candidate.