The Delhi High Court has dismissed a petition challenging two questions in the Delhi Higher Judicial Service (DHJS) Preliminary Examination, 2026, holding that the candidate had approached the Court belatedly after failing to raise objections within the prescribed time and subsequently failing to qualify for the mains examination.
A Division Bench of Justice Avneesh Jhingan and Justice Arun Bhardwaj held that no case was made out for interference under its writ jurisdiction.
The petitioner had challenged Questions 8 and 51 of Question Paper Series D and sought recalculation of his marks after their deletion. Question 8 concerned the validity of a Will executed by a person in a state of intoxication, while Question 51 concerned the formation of a contract where an offer and its acceptance were communicated by post.
The Court noted that the model answer key was published on July 28, 2026, and candidates were given three days to raise objections. Although other candidates had objected to the two questions, the petitioner had not raised any objections himself. Following the recommendations of an expert committee, a committee of the High Court accepted the deletion of 11 questions on August 12, 2026, but rejected the objections concerning the two questions challenged by the petitioner.
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The Court observed that judicial interference in examination matters is limited to cases where an error in a question or answer is glaring and apparent, requiring no inferential reasoning. It further held that even if the Court were to agree with the petitioner on the correct answers, it could not substitute its opinion for that of the expert committee.
The Bench also accepted the respondents’ objection that the petitioner had waited until the result was declared on August 14, 2026, before approaching the Court. The petitioner had missed the qualifying cut-off by 0.25 percentage points and filed the petition 25 days after the result, despite the mains examination having initially been scheduled for September 12 and 13, 2026.
Relying on the Supreme Court’s decision in Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Service Selection Commission v. Ashok Yadav,2026 SCC OnLine SC 1893, the High Court reiterated that challenges to answer keys must satisfy the strict standard of demonstrating a patent error and that courts must be cautious in condoning delay in examination-related challenges.
Holding that the challenge was belated and that no ground for judicial interference had been established, the Court dismissed the petition and disposed of the pending application.
