Eshan Bansal & Ors v. PSPCL & Ors.
In the High Court of Punjab & Haryana
LPA 1419/2013 (O&M)
Before Justice Surya Kant and Justice Surinder Gupta
Decided on August 13, 2013

Relevancy of the case: Conducting re-exam when mobile phones are used for mass copying

Statutes & Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 66, 66D)
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Section 120B, 419, 420, 465, 468)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The present case is an appeal made against the order passed by the learned Judge. The order made by the learned single Judge dismissed the writ petition filed by the appellant, in which he questioned the Board of Directors of Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd.’s resolution wherein they decided to re-conduct the examination which was held on 15.07.2012 for certain posts.
• The brief facts of the case are that the Board of Directors of Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. advertised about the exam that they were conducting for certain vacant posts. The appellant appeared for the test for one of the posts. The following day after the test, i.e., 16.07.2012, there had been a news story indicating wide-scale cheating throughout the tests as answers to the test were allegedly siphoned on the mobile sets via text messaging/MMS. The selection list was released withstanding the news story, and the appellant’s name was in the selection list along with the other candidates who were selected.
• Initially, the Board of Directors of Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. defended reconducting the exam, having regard to the preliminary inquiry reports submitted by the Director General of Police (Vigilance) and the Deputy Inspector General (Cyber Crime) to this Court in the issue questioning the written test of 15.07.2012.
• An FIR was filed under Sections 419, 420, 465, 468, 120B of the Indian Penal Code, 186- read with Sections 66 & 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000 at the Punjab State Cyber Crime Police Station. A writ petition in regard to this was filed by the appellant. The learned Single Judge subsequently concluded that there was no validity in the appellant’s argument because mere selection does not grant any indefeasible right of appointment. Subsequently, the petitions were rejected. Consequently, this appeal was filed.

Prominent Arguments by the Advocates

The appellants’ counsel:

• As per the Cyber Crime Bureau report and the other investigative authority, only 10 candidates have been reported as having been engaged in unfair means in the course of the test and since those candidates can be reasonably separated, the criteria set down by the Supreme Court in the case of Inderpreet Singh Kahlon should have been implemented. To put it differently, the appellants contend that they should not have been treated equally by PSCPL, since they appeared in the examination in a bona fide manner and none of them is found to be involved in any malpractice(s).

Opinion of the Bench

• Since no definitive conclusion has been reached by either of the investigative agencies or the authorized authority that only 10 candidates actually indulged in unfair means and the investigation is ongoing where technical devices were pressed into aid to unravel the mass malpractices, it is too early to assume that some recognized candidates are just the culprits. The learned Single Judge has well clarified the magnitude of the unfair methods practised by the candidates.
• In an investigation where mass copying or large-scale unfair tools are used, it is too difficult to distinguish the innocent candidates who ought to be exonerated. In such a case, the benefit of the doubt would go to the organization rather than the persons and the only reasonable solution for the authorities will be to cancel and re-conduct the whole selection procedure. The case of Inderpreet Singh Kahlon was not applicable in this case.

Final Decision

• The appeal was dismissed since no merits were found.

This case summary has been prepared by Akshara Kamath, an undergraduate student at Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad, during her internship with The Cyber Blog India in June/July 2020.