UPSC to reveal cut-off marks: Delhi High Court

April 17: The Delhi High Court directed the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to reveal the cut-off marks for the candidates who appeared in civil service examination, along with the model answer papers.

Refusing to entertain an order of the Central Information Commission CIC, Justice B. D. Ahmed said that the UPSC should be more transparent and this will not harm anyone.

Earlier, more than 2000 candidates who appeared in the exams 2006 filed RTIs for making the examination system transparent as it is the apex body which sees the selection of top bureaucrats in the country.

However, UPSC was against it and explained that some coaching institutes may misuse it and the marks declared may harm the students in one way or the other. Also, because the scaling system is very sensitive, it should not be removed. UPSC has agreed to reveal cut-off marks but not the scaling system.

On April 4, the court reserved its order following UPSC’s petition against CIC order. But now candidates have welcomed this decision as they have spent a lot of time preparing for the exam and the decision was crucial.

The court while directing UPSC also mentioned that UPSC had shown concerns about the state of affairs. At the same time the court didn’t find anything wrong in the transparency issue. However, if UPSC wants to challenge the decision, it may have to knock the doors of the Supreme Court.