An aspirant for the second stage of National Talent Search Examination was in for a shock when he found out that he had fallen short of just one mark to become eligible for the examination with a score of 132 marks as against the cut-off marks of 133. However, careful examination of his OMR sheet revealed that he had in fact scored the much needed one mark, but the examiner had bungled in considering one of his answers as incorrect.
The examinee then took the matter to high court on the ground that no mark was awarded to his correct answer to the 66th question in the examination held in November 2011. The question in the Scholastic Aptitude Test related to who had the power to dissolve the State Legislative Assembly - the President of India, the governor of the state, the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister.
Mr Adarsh had marked the second response (governor) as the right answer in his OMR sheet, but it was considered wrong. His advocate before the high court contended that according to the provisions of Article 174(2) of the Constitution of India, it is crystal clear that the governor is empowered to dissolve the state legislative assembly.
“A copy of the OMR sheet shows that the student has marked the second response, which is the right answer. However, no weightage is given for the right response. On the other hand, the department of State Educational Research and Training incorrectly considered that the President of India is vested with the power under the Constitution to dissolve the State Legislative Assembly”, the advocate argued.
The advocate for the department too admitted that there cannot be any doubt that it is the governor who is vested with the power to dissolve the Legislative Assembly. But, he had argued that the situation in respect of Mr Adarsh could have averted, if he had filed objections to the publication of the key answers in January 2012, much before of the announcement of results.
The court, in its order, observed that the student not filing objections to the key answers should not put him in disadvantage. "If he has marked the right answer, he is entitled to get the weightage," the court ordered. “It is needless to observe that the student becomes eligible to appear for the second stage of the NTSE”, Justice Ashok B. Hinchigeri ordered.