The Delhi High Court has set aside an order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) dismissing a candidate’s challenge to the official answer key of the UPSC Indian Forest Service Examination, 2022, holding that a challenge to the correctness of the answer key is distinct from a plea for re-evaluation and is maintainable where the suggested answers are demonstrably incorrect.
A Division Bench of Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla was hearing a petition filed by an OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) candidate who questioned the official answers to Questions 88 and 96 of the General Studies Paper-I. The petitioner contended that the official answer key contained incorrect answers, adversely affecting his result in the examination.
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The Court observed that the Tribunal had dismissed the original application by relying on precedents holding that there is no absolute right to re-evaluation of examination papers, without examining the petitioner’s specific contention regarding the correctness of the model answer key. The Bench held that this approach was erroneous because the petitioner was not seeking re-evaluation of his answer sheet but was challenging the correctness of the official answers published by the examining authority.
Reiterating the settled legal position, the Court held that there is no absolute bar on judicial scrutiny of answer keys. While courts would ordinarily refrain from interfering where the official answer is a plausible view, they are justified in exercising judicial review where the answer in the key is patently or demonstrably incorrect.
The Bench declined to examine the merits of the disputed questions itself, noting that the Tribunal had not undertaken that exercise. Accordingly, it set aside the CAT’s order dated 12 December 2025 and remitted the original application for fresh consideration on merits.
Considering that the dispute concerned a candidate’s eligibility for appointment to the Indian Forest Service, the Court requested the Tribunal to hear the matter expeditiously. It directed the parties to appear before the CAT on 6 July 2026 and clarified that neither side would be entitled to seek an adjournment on that date.
