Summary
The Court declined to alter the May 2024 Chartered Accountancy examination schedule because certain papers followed polling days. Examination scheduling lay primarily within policy, and no paper was set on polling day or the preceding day. Last-minute alteration would prejudice the large cohort. Allowing selected papers to be deferred would unfairly advantage some candidates and conflict with the regulations; pandemic arrangements were distinguishable. The Article 32 petition was dismissed.
Issues
- Whether election-related travel concerns warranted altering the May 2024 examination dates.
- Whether candidates could selectively defer affected papers to another examination.
Provisions considered
- Article 32, Constitution of IndiaThe Court independently assessed the asserted voting-related hardship but found no basis to order schedule alteration or selective deferment. (¶¶ 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10)
Held
- Examination scheduling primarily falls within the policy domain. Nevertheless, the Court independently considered eligible candidates’ ability to vote, the nationwide examination-centre arrangements, absence of papers on polling days or the day before, and prejudice that late changes would cause to over 4.36 lakh enrolled candidates. Relief was unwarranted on those facts. (¶¶ 5, 6, 9)
- Selective deferral would permit some candidates to divide their papers between examination sittings while others were assessed after taking all papers together, creating unfairness. The requested option was contrary to the regulations. Exceptional COVID-19 arrangements arose from a fundamentally different public-health crisis and did not justify that relief. (¶¶ 7, 8)
- The writ petition and pending applications were disposed of by dismissal of the petition; neither rescheduling nor the alternative selective-deferral request was granted. (¶¶ 9, 10, 11)
Result
Article 32 writ petition dismissed; examination-rescheduling and selective-deferral relief refused. Pending applications disposed of.