Relief eludes BPSC aspirants, High Court asks for counter reply

BPSC has been asked to submit a para-wise counter reply on petitions filed by the students before January 31, which is the next date of hearing of the case

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Patna: Patna High Court on Thursday refrained from granting any immediate relief to aspirants of the 70th combined competitive examination, conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC), but stated that the result of preliminary test (PT) would be subjected to the final outcome of this hearing.

The court has begun hearing on a bunch of petitions filed by the BPSC aspirants, seeking cancellation of the PT and reconduct of the examination. These students, who have been agitating, have got the backing of Jan Suraj Party founder Prashant Kishor. The PT was conducted on December 13 and examination at Bapu Examination Centre in Patna was cancelled owing to ruckus created by the examinees.

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After hearing the aspirants’ petition for nearly 80 minutes, the single bench of Patna High Court of Arvind Singh Chandel, reserved the order, which came in the evening. The court has fixed January 31 as the next date of hearing. In the meantime, the court directed the BPSC to file a counter affidavit by January 30, replying to every aspect of the petition. There are 14 petitioners in the case.

“I am not inclined to grant any interim relief, as prayed by the petitioners. The senior counsel for the respondents are directed to file a detailed counter affidavit before the next date of hearing,” said the bench.

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“It is made clear that any result of the preliminary examination, conducted by the commission, will be the subject matter of the final outcome of this petition,” it added.
Earlier, the counsel for the petitioners argued that the question paper had been leaked, several candidates were not given the question papers, a day prior to the examination, the commission changed the center of candidates, separate exams were held on two different dates and the questions papers were also circulated on social media X.

The counsel also submitted that the irregularities are not only confined to the Bapu Pariksha Parisar but also incurred at about 28 different examination centers which was reported by the candidates who appeared on those examination centers. However, the counsel for the BPSC opposed the arguments.

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According to the petitioners’ counsel, the petition was filed under Article 226, seeking re-test of the BPSC exam and embargo on publication of the result till re-test is held. Article 226 of the Constitution of India gives High Courts the power to issue directions, orders or writs (habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto, and certiorar) to any person or authority, including the government, within the court’s jurisdiction to enforce fundamental and non-fundamental rights provided under Part III of the Constitution, or for any other purpose. The case was mentioned on Friday last.

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