Deepali Kalia –
Published on August 06, 2021, 06:10 IST
Delhi High Court issued an ex parte ad interim stay on the order of a Single Judge Bench which had directed that one extra mark be awarded to the candidates of the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) held in December 2020 due to an incorrect question in the exam.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh while hearing an appeal filed by the National Board of Examinations (NBE) which challenged the Single Judge Bench’s order stayed the operation of said order till September 17, the next date of hearing.
A Single Judge Bench of Justice Prateek Jalan through an order on July 5, 2021, had directed that, “The respondent is directed to treat the disputed question (set out in paragraph 4 above) as deleted from the FMGE (December 2020), and to award one extra mark to those candidates who were assessed as having answered it incorrectly. In the event any candidate thus achieves the passing score of 150 marks, they would be treated as having passed the FMGE (December 2020). The aforesaid directions will compiled within four weeks from today.”
Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, who appeared for NBE had supported his contentions by citing recent decisions of the Supreme Court on the subject and noting that NBE had a balance of convenience in its favour, the Bench had issued a stay on the impugned order.
The petitioner in the present case, an association of doctors who have acquired their degrees from foreign universities, claimed that the disputed question regarding Sample Registration System (SRS) in the exam was an incorrect one.
NBE stated that the correct answer to the disputed question, “Sample Registration System gives information about all except: a. Birth rate b. Death rate c. Maternal Mortality rate (MMR) d. Infant mortality rate” was option c.
However, the petitioner stated that the disputed question was technically incorrect, as the SRS, in fact, gives information about all four parameters.
Nevertheless, the NBE issued a notice dated 16.01.2021stating that the result declared by it was final and that it had been declared after “Necessary checks including post exam review of the question paper by subject matter experts.”
The Single Judge Bench however accepted the petitioner’s argument based on an affidavit by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RGI) stating that SRS does include MMR.
Click here to Read/Download the Order
Read more: Delhi HC: One Extra-Mark given to Candidates for Incorrect Question in FMGE December 2020
