my uttarakhand news Bureau
Nainital, 12 Mar: Uttarakhand High Court at Nainital has declared unconstitutional a provision of the Uttarakhand State Public Service Commission (UKPSC) relating to recruitment examinations under which candidates were allowed to inspect their answer sheets only after the declaration of the final result.
The order was passed by a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Subhash Upadhyay while hearing petitions challenging the result of the shorthand examination conducted for recruitment to the post of Additional Private Secretary (APS). The High Court granted unsuccessful candidates the right to inspect their answer sheets.
In its order, the court observed that transparency and fairness in the recruitment process are constitutionally essential and that candidates cannot be deprived of the right to obtain information related to the evaluation process. Rajveer Singh, Ranveer Singh Tomar, Ruchi Rana and several other candidates had approached the Uttarakhand High Court at Nainital challenging the result of the shorthand examination declared on 3 February 2026.
The petitioners had alleged that the Commission had not permitted them to inspect their shorthand notebooks and typed answer sheets, making it impossible to verify the accuracy of the evaluation. It may be noted that an advertisement had been issued on 18 July 2024 for recruitment to 99 posts of Additional Private Secretary in the Secretariat at Dehradun and the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission at Haridwar. The first stage of the selection process included skill tests such as Hindi and English typing, computer knowledge and shorthand.
Only those candidates who qualified in this stage were made eligible to appear in the second stage, which was a written examination. The petitioners argued before the court that they had successfully cleared the other examinations in the first stage of the selection process and had also performed well in the shorthand test. However, they were not selected in the result. On the basis of suspicion of possible errors in the evaluation, they had sought permission to inspect their answer sheets.
According to ‘Note-4’ issued by the Commission, candidates were allowed to inspect their answer sheets only after the final result was declared. The court held this provision unconstitutional in relation to unsuccessful candidates, observing that if inspection is delayed excessively, it becomes almost impossible to rectify any errors later, causing irreparable loss to candidates.
The Division Bench further observed that evaluated answer sheets fall within the category of information under the Right to Information Act (RTI) and observed that the candidates have the right to inspect them and obtain copies. The court ordered that the concerned ‘Note-4’ be treated as quashed to the extent that it prevents unsuccessful candidates from inspecting their answer sheets.
The court also directed that the petitioners be allowed to inspect their shorthand notebooks and answer sheets and obtain copies of the same.
About The Author
