Bombay HC Upholds Cancellation Of Tampered Maharashtra TET Results, Quashes Permanent Exam Ban Without Hearing

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has upheld the cancellation of the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) results of more than 7,800 candidates whose marks were found to have been tampered with. However, the court has set aside the decision to permanently debar them from appearing for future examinations without giving them an opportunity of being heard.

A bench of Justices Kishore Sant and Jitendra Jain of the Aurangabad bench of the HC passed the order on September 30 while disposing of a batch of more than 500 petitions filed by teachers and candidates challenging orders issued by the Maharashtra government and examination authorities in 2022.

The authorities had cancelled the TET qualification certificates of the candidates, barred them permanently from appearing for future examinations and ordered freezing of their salaries and Shalarth IDs.

Probe revealed marks discrepancies

The case arose from an investigation by the Pune Cyber Police into irregularities in the 2020 MHADA recruitment examination. During the probe, the police found discrepancies in the marks of candidates who had appeared for the 2018 and 2019 TET examinations.

According to the findings placed before the court, marks of around 7,880 candidates in TET 2019 and nearly 1,700 candidates in TET 2018 had been increased in the final mark-sheets when compared with their original OMR answer sheets.

A six-member expert committee appointed by the Maharashtra State Council of Examination subsequently examined the original answer sheets, answer keys and digital records and confirmed large-scale tampering.

Court upholds cancellation of results

Refusing to interfere with the cancellation of the results, the bench made a strong observation on the scope of natural justice in such circumstances. “When it comes to malpractices on such a large extent, the authorities are justified in cancelling the results of tainted candidates without giving any opportunity of hearing. In such cases, opportunity of hearing would not subserve the purpose,” the court observed.

The bench further noted that “looking at the fact that the marks have been admittedly altered, giving the opportunity of hearing for cancellation of results would have not made any difference.”

Permanent debarment set aside

However, the court drew a distinction between cancellation of a tainted result and permanent debarment from future examinations. It held that blacklisting the candidates was punitive in nature and could not have been imposed without following the principles of natural justice.

“Teachers are one of the foundational pillars of the society,” the bench observed, stressing the need to maintain high standards in examinations for teachers who qualify to teach students from Standards I to VIII.

The court accordingly set aside the permanent debarment orders and directed the authorities to issue show-cause notices to the affected candidates and provide them an opportunity to present their defence before taking any decision on permanent debarment or other disciplinary action.

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State must follow due process

The ruling allows the cancellation of the allegedly manipulated TET results to stand while requiring the state to follow due process before imposing further punishment on the affected candidates.

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