New Delhi: Public examinations are mechanisms through which public confidence in equal opportunity and merit-based recruitment is maintained, Delhi High Court said Wednesday, as it held that an exam by National Testing Agency (NTA) for Delhi University ’s non-teaching staff wasn’t “conducted in free, fair and transparent manner”.
The court permitted DU’s plea to put on hold appointments of those selected in 2023 via the NTA-conducted exam as it may be compromised. It rejected the stand of some of the selected candidates seeking to be appointed after clearing the exam held in 2021 and set aside an order of a single judge directing DU to issue appointment letters. Any conduct which has the effect of compromising the sanctity of such an examination, whether by leakage of material, unauthorised assistance, manipulation of systems, collusion, tampering of data or any other unfair method, strikes at the root of the selection process and is, therefore, required to be viewed with seriousness,” a bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia observed.
“The examination process, particularly where it concerns recruitment to public institutions, has to be conducted in a free, fair, transparent and unimpeachable manner… Taking a dim view of NTA’s failure to furnish exam-related documents to DU for further probe, the court pointed out, “NTA… was required to act with complete transparency towards the university. Its role did not end with the mechanical declaration of results.”