Appointing candidates deliberately inflating marks in forms fundamentally illegal: Allahabad HC

Prayagraj, Dec 31 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court has held that appointing a candidate who deliberately enters higher marks in application forms to gain undue advantage in the selection process is fundamentally illegal.

Such candidates cannot seek the benefit of estoppel as the appointment is tainted from the beginning, the court noted.

The ruling was made by Justice Manju Rani Chauhan, who dismissed writ petitions filed by Awadhesh Kumar Chaudhary and six others.

“Such an act, by any stretch of reasoning, cannot be treated as a mere human error or an inadvertent mistake as it confers an undue advantage upon the candidate to the prejudice of other eligible aspirants and strikes at the very root of fairness and transparency in the selection process,” Justice Chauhan said.

The petitioners had applied for the posts of assistant teachers and were declared qualified in the results for the assistant teacher recruitment examination of 2019.

Subsequently, the petitioners applied for appointment and were duly selected and allotted Kushinagar district.

However, due to certain objections raised, the petitioners were asked to submit affidavits, and, after consideration, their appointment orders were issued by the Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA).

Subsequently, after working for five years, their services were terminated by orders dated May 9, 2025, passed by the secretary, Board of Basic Education, Prayagraj, and May 21, 2025, passed by the district basic education officer, Kushinagar, for mentioning increased marks in the application forms submitted by them while applying for the posts.

During the hearing, the petitioners' counsel argued that his clients submitted the correct information by way of the affidavit and there were no complaints against their working for five years, and, therefore, the punishment of termination was too harsh.

After perusing the records, the court observed that certain petitioners did not inflate their marks but mentioned them separately or in a different format than required, which was considered a bona fide mistake.

However, there were some petitioners who entered higher marks in the application forms.

Relying on various decisions of the apex court, the court held that entering higher marks cannot be treated as mere human error but a deliberate act which can alter merit positions in recruitment. PTI COR RAJ ARI