SPECIAL TET: மறுமதிப்பீட்டிற்கான தீர்ப்பு நகல்

SPECIAL TET:மறுமதிப்பீட்டிற்கான தீர்ப்பு நகல்

1IN THE HIGH COURT OF
JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED : 25*.06.2014*

CORAM

*THE HONOURABLE
MR.JUSTICE S.NAGAMUTHU*
*W.P.No.16291 of 2014*
*and*
*M.P.No.1 of 2014*
P.Eswari
... Petitioner
vs.

1.The Secretary to
Government,
School Education Department,
Secretariat,
Fort St.George,
Chennai-600 009

2.The Chairman,
Teachers Recruitment Board,
Chennai-600 008

3.The Member Secretary,
Teacher Recruitment Board,
Chennai-600 008
... Respondents
Writ Petition filed under
Article 226 of the Constitution
of India
praying for the issuance of a
writ of mandamus to direct
the 2nd
and 3rd respondent to provide
1 mark for question No.33 in
'D'
series in Paper-II, which was
wrongly given the key answer
in
Special Tamil Nadu Teacher
Eligibility Test-2014
conducted by the
Teachers Recruitment Board
and
consequently appoint the
petitioner for the post of Post
Graduate Assistant in Tamil.
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*Page 2*
2
For Petitioner
: Mr.M.Rajendiran
For Respondents :
Mr.R.Rajeswaran,Spl.G.P.
*O R D E R*
The Teachers Recruitment
Board, Government of Tamil
Nadu,
conducted Special Tamil Nadu
Teachers Eligibility Test'-2014
for
persons with disability (PWD)
candidates, as per the
Notification
No.1 of 2014, on 21.5.2014.
The petitioner participated in
the said
examination. Her Roll Number
is 13TE00264811. The
question
papers were in four series.
The questions were of
objective type.
The petitioner was supplied
with 'D' series question paper.
She has
secured 81 marks. According
to the petitioner, for question
No.33,
though she had answered
rightly, she has not been
awarded 1
mark.
2. It needs to be mentioned
that tentative key answers
were
published by the Teachers'
Recruitment Board calling for
objections.
So far as question No.33 in 'D'
series in Paper-II, is
concerned, the
petitioner had submitted her
objection.
After that, now the
respondents have published
the final key answers, in
which, they
have stated that option (B) is
the right answer and not
option (D),
as has been claimed by the
petitioner. The results have
already
been published, based on the
said final key answers. The
petitioner
challenges the non-awarding
of one mark for question
No.33 in 'D'
------------------------------
*Page 3*
3
series. Therefore, the
petitioner is before this Court
with this writ
petition.

3. I have heard the learned
counsel for the petitioner and
Mr.R.Rajeswaran,
the
learned
Special
Government
Pleader
appearing for the respondents
and I have also perused the
records
carefully.

4. As per the undertaking
given before this Court, today,
the
respondents have ensured the
presence of three experts, who
are
Post Graduate Tamil
Teachers, working in various
schools, by
names, 1.K.Chinnadurai,
2.R.Dayanidhi and 3.N.Gopi. I
have heard
their opinion also.

5. The power of this Court to
interfere with the decision of
experts in respect of key
answers has been elaborately
dealt with in
a number of judgments, about
which, I need not elaborate. I
deem
it suffice to refer to the
judgment of the Honourable
Supreme Court
in *Kanpur University vs.
Samir Gupta and Others
reported in*
*(1983) 4 Supreme Court
Cases 309*, wherein the
Supreme Court
has held that if the key
answer is demonstrably
wrong, then this
Court has got power to
interfere with the same.
Applying the said
decision, we have to examine
this case as to whether the
key
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*Page 4*
4
answer published by the
respondents is demonstrably
wrong.
Question No.33 in 'D' series
reads as follows:
"33.flypid kl;Lk; Fwpf;fhj
brhy;iyj; fz;blL
A) Ke;ePh;
B) MHp
C) guit
D) rKj;jpuk;@

6. According to the
respondents, *option (B) MHp
*is the right
answer, because the Tamil
word ''*MHp@ means
'ocean' (fly;),*
*'ring' (nkhjpuk;),
'wheel' (rf;fuk;).*
Thus, according to the
respondents, including the
experts, who are present in
the Court,
since the Tamil word 'MHp@
means three different objects,
it is the
appropriate right answer.

7. But the learned counsel for
the petitioner would submit
that
*option (D) rKj;jpuk; *is also
a right answer.
According to the
petitioner, the Tamil word
*'rKj;jpuk;' carries three
different*
*meanings, such as (i) ocean
(fly;) (ii) A great number i.e.
1*
*followed by 14 zeros (xh;
vz;) and (iii) Abundance
(kpFjp).*
Thus, according to the
petitioner *option (D) is also
the right*
*answer*.
In order to substantiate his
contention, the learned
counsel has relied on the
*Lexicon *published by the
University of
------------------------------
*Page 5*
5
Madras, wherein, the meaning
for the Tamil word 'rKj;jpuk;'
is
mentioned as follows:
"*rKj;jpuk;*
*@ n.samudra. 1.Sea, Ocean;
fly;.(gp';) 2/ A*
*very large number, one
followed by fourteen*
*cyphers; xd;iwaLj;Jg;
gjpdhd;F Rd;dk;bfhz;l ngbuz;.*
*(gp';)*
*3.*
*See*
*rK/(gp';/)*
*4.Large*
*quantity,*
*abundance;*
*kpFjp/ 5.See*
*rKj;jpunjhak;/ (W.)*
*rKj;jpukl;lglghiu camuttira-
mat-tapparai, n.id < http://
n.id >. + A*
*kind of mackerel, Caranx;
fly;kPd;tif/@*
Similarly, the learned counsel
has relied on the Tamil
Dictionary
known as 'jkpH; mfu Kjyp' ,
wherein it is stated as follows:
*rKj;jpuk; - xh; vz;;. fly;.
kpFjp*

8. The learned counsel relies
on yet another Tamil
Dictionary
published by 'Saradha
Padhipagam', wherein it is
stated similarly.
Thus, the word 'rKj;jpuk;' does
not mean only an 'Ocean'.
Since it
means many other objects
also, option (D) is the right
answer and
therefore, the petitioner is
entitled for one mark.

9. The experts present in the
Court would say that option
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*Page 6*
6
(B) MHp alone is the right
answer. According to the
experts, the
word 'rKj;jpuk;' is not a Tamil
word at all and that is why
according
to them, option (D) rKj;jpuk; is
not the correct answer.

10. A careful reading of
question No.33 would go to
show that
there is no indication that the
candidates should find out
whether
the said word is a 'jkpH;
brhy;@ or 'tlbkhHp brhy;@/
For a moment,
I am also not prepared to
accept the contention that the
word
'rKj;jpuk;' is not a Tamil word.
Had it been so, in the Tamil
Dictionaries, referred to by the
learned counsel, the word
would not
have been included as a
Tamil word. Demonstrably, the
Tamil word
'rKj;jpuk;' carries meanings of
three different objects and
therefore,
applying the law laid down by
the Supreme Court in
*Kanpur*
*University's case*, for those
candidates, who have
answered
*option (D) also*, one mark
should be awarded.

11. Though the petitioner has
come up with this writ petition
seeking a direction for
awarding of one mark for
question No.33 to
her alone, since the key
answer is not fully correct,
any benefit
given to the petitioner should
be extended to the similarly
placed
persons. Therefore, it would
be appropriate for this Court
to do
justice to all the candidates,
who have answered *option
(D) *as the
right answer, by awarding one
mark. Thus, this *judgment is
in*
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*Page 7*
7
*rem and not in personam.*

12. In the result, the writ
petition is allowed in the
following
terms:
(i) The respondents are
directed to award one
mark for those candidates,
who have answered either
option (B) or option (D) as
answer to question No.33
in 'D' series and in the other
series for the said
question.
(ii) The respondents shall
revalue all the answer
papers by making the above
modification in the key
answers and then publish the
revised result.
(iii) The learned Special
Government Pleader
would state that the said
exercise will be completed
within one week. Accordingly
it is directed that the
said exercise shall be
completed within one week
from today.
No costs. Consequently,
connected miscellaneous
petition is closed
*25.06.2014*
*Index : Yes*
*Internet : Yes*
To
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*Page 8*
8

1.The Secretary to
Government,
School Education Department,
Secretariat,
Fort St.George,
Chennai-600 009

2.The Chairman,
Teachers Recruitment Board,
Chennai-600 008

3.The Member Secretary,
Teacher Recruitment Board,
Chennai-600 008
*S.NAGAMUTHU,J.*
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*Page 9*
9
*msk*
*W.P.No.16291 of 2014*
*25.06.2014*