OMR Sheet Defaults Cannot Be Cured After Submission: Rajasthan High Court Upholds Exclusion From Selection

Two candidates excluded from a selection process filed a writ petition against the Rajasthan High Court, through its Registrar General, and its Registrar (Examination). Petitioner no. 1 left blank the space for the question booklet series on the OMR sheet; petitioner no. 2 did not darken the bubble for the series (para 4). Their sheets could not be evaluated by the machine-based system (para 5). They argued that neither the instructions nor the advertisement declared that improper darkening would lead to exclusion, that they should have had one opportunity to correct the sheets, and that they were meritorious (paras 2, 7). The respondents relied on the Division Bench order in Jagdish Chandra Jat (para 3).

Because OMR sheets are evaluated by machines, the respondents issued detailed marking instructions; clause 6 warned that a series bubble left undarkened, wrongly darkened or blotted with ink may disrupt evaluation, and a sheet without a properly marked booklet series cannot be evaluated by the system (para 5). The sanctity of selection for public employment requires a clearly laid-down process that is scrupulously followed by the examining agency and the candidates alike, and candidates must strictly adhere to the instructions; once such a mistake is made, there is no laid-down system to cure it (para 6). The plea that a correction process should have been evolved was rejected: such a blanket relaxation would destroy the sanctity of the examination, and manual re-examination or correction of rejected sheets would derail and delay selection and raise suspicion, as the practice is open to misuse (paras 7-8). The Court relied on G. Hemalathaa, where the Supreme Court held examination instructions mandatory and beyond relaxation by a High Court under Article 226, and on Jagdish Chandra Jat, which held that such mistakes cannot be corrected and the candidate must be excluded (paras 9-11).