Summary
The Court upheld the examining Commission’s response to a current-affairs question whose originally correct option became wrong after the Minister died shortly before the examination. Awarding a mark to candidates choosing that option or leaving the question unanswered, while denying it to candidates choosing options never correct, was not palpably arbitrary on these facts. The respondent had not directly challenged the Commission’s decision, and completed appointments made deletion of the question inappropriate at that stage. The Commission’s appeal was allowed and the High Court’s contrary direction set aside.
Issues
- Whether the Commission’s distinction between the originally correct option, an unanswered question and options never correct justified judicial interference.
- Whether the question should be deleted or a mark awarded after selection and appointments had proceeded.
Held
- The question had a correct option when set, but the Minister’s intervening death left no correct option on the examination date. That unforeseen change distinguished the case from a question originally vague or without a correct answer. (¶¶ 11, 13)
- Judicial review of the examining body’s decision was supervisory rather than an appeal on its merits. The Commission’s rationale distinguished candidates selecting the formerly correct option or recognising that none was correct from candidates selecting an option that was never correct; the distinction was not palpably arbitrary here. (¶ 12-13)
- The Commission’s decision had not itself been impugned in the writ petition. With selection followed by completed appointments, deleting the question at that stage was inappropriate, and the alternative direction to award the respondent a mark lacked a sustainable finding of illegality. (¶ 11-12)
- The Court recorded the Commission’s statement that candidates selecting an option other than the formerly correct one had not been given the mark. On the case’s circumstances, the Commission’s appeal was allowed and the impugned judgment set aside without costs. (¶ 14-15)
Result
Commission’s appeal allowed without costs; High Court’s direction to delete the question or award the respondent a mark set aside.