The Central Board of Secondary Education and Anr. vs T.K. Rangarajan and Ors.

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL No.11230 OF 2018 (Arising out of SLP (C) No.18525 of 2018)

The Central Board of Secondary Education and Anr. ...Appellants

Versus T.K. Rangarajan and Ors. …Respondents

WITH

CIVIL APPEAL No.11232 OF 2018 SLP(C) No.19374/2018 WITH CIVIL APPEAL No.11237 OF 2018 SLP(C) No. 19382/2018 WITH CIVIL APPEAL No.11234 OF 2018 SLP(C) No. 19377/2018 WITH CIVIL APPEAL No.11241 OF 2018 SLP(C) No. 19388/2018 WITH CIVIL APPEAL No.11236 OF 2018 SLP(C) No. 19379/2018 WITH CIVIL APPEAL No.11239 OF 2018 SLP(C) No. 19385/2018 WITH CIVIL APPEAL No.11235 OF 2018 SLP(C) No. 19378/2018 WITH CIVIL APPEAL No.11240 OF 2018 SLP(C) No. 19387/2018 WITH CIVIL APPEAL No.11238 OF 2018 Signature Not Verified SLP(C) No. 19383/2018 Digitally signed by SANJAY KUMAR WITH Date: 2018.11.22 16:37:32 IST Reason: CIVIL APPEAL No.11233 OF 2018 SLP(C) No. 19376/2018

1 WITH CIVIL APPEAL No.11231 OF 2018 SLP(C) No. 19372/2018 WITH CIVIL APPEAL No.11242 OF 2018 SLP(C) No. 20507/2018

JUDGMENT

S.A. BOBDE, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. One of these appeals is preferred by the Central Board of

Secondary Education (CBSE) and the rest are filed by students who

have appeared in National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-UG (for short

‘NEET-UG’), 2018 and have taken the exam in English. This test is

conducted according to the regulations framed under the Indian

Medical Council Act, 1956 and the Dentists Act, 1948.

3. The questions in the NEET-UG, 2018 paper consists of 180

objective type questions. Bi-lingual questions were set for this

examination in English with an option of an additional regional

language. The correct answer to the questions presented in the exam

is one of the four options offered for each question. Each correct

answer carries four marks and each incorrect answer results in the

deduction of one mark.

4. In a writ petition filed by the students, who had taken the

examination in the regional language of Tamil. The High Court of

2 Madras noticed certain mistranslations in the Tamil version for the

questions and answers in 49 questions. The High Court decided that

nearly 24,000 students who took the examination in Tamil are entitled

to four grace marks for each incorrectly translated question therefore,

each of these students are entitled to a total of 196 grace marks, (i.e.,

49 x 4).

5. The result is obviously an unprecedented awarding of marks to a

certain section of students who opted for the examination in Tamil,

thus securing them higher marks than all the other type of students

irrespective of their actual performance in the examination. The

problem arises because of the bi-lingual system of the examination.

6. Out of 13,23,672 lakh students, who appeared for the

examination, approximately 10.5 lakh took it in English,

approximately 1.5 lakh opted for regional languages and of these

about nearly 24,000 candidates took the examination in Tamil

language.

7. The dispute in the present case concerns these 24,000 students

only who have been benefited by the High Court’s order and have

been awarded 4 marks for the 49 questions each irrespective of their

actual answers.

8. The genesis is as follows – Owing to nation wide increasing

demand that the NEET examination should also have the option of a

regional language, the CBSE introduced question papers in 13

languages, i.e. English and 12 regional languages. In the year 2017-

18, apparently, two sets of questions papers were set. One in English

and the other in the regional languages. This examination was

challenged since it was believed that the objective of the common

3 entrance test cannot be fulfilled if the questions are different. The

matter came up before this Court. The CBSE justified the method

adopted by it as the principle of equivalent difficulty. This Court in

Writ Petition (C) No.390 of 2017 vide order dated 25.01.2018

observed as follows: -

“We are disposed to think that it would be appropriate for CBSE the questions papers set in English, Hindi or any other regional languages should be the same. It shall facilitate the student’s community to choose the language they intend to adopt to answer the questions and in that event the principle of uniformity shall be appositely maintained for all the categories of students. When there is appropriate translation, the identity and uniformity of the question papers will be in the realm of certainty. We have been apprised that it is difficult to translate certain areas in regional languages pertaining to medical terms. In such circumstances, it shall be within the domain of the experts to use the medical terms as they are.”

This would help the students to choose the language

they adopt for answering the questions and there would be

uniformity for all categories of students, i.e., those opting to

answer in English and those opting to answer in a regional

language. In turn, the CBSE decided and stated before this

Court that the pattern of the NEET-UG, 2018 examination as

regards to language would be as follows:-

“(c) Language of the Question Papers.

i. Candidates can opt for question Papers in either of the following languages:

ENGLISH HINDI ASSAMESE BENGALI GUJARATI KANADA MARATHI ORIYA TAMIL TELUGU URDU

ii. Option of medium of Question Paper will be exercised while filing in the application form. The

4 option once exercised by candidates cannot be changed later.

iii Candidates opting for English would be provided Test Booklet in English only.

iv Candidates opting for Hindi would be provided Bilingual Test Booklet i.e. in Hindi and in English.

v. Candidates opting for vernacular languages would be provided Bilingual Test Booklet i.e. in selected language and in English.

vi. In case of any ambiguity in translation of any of the questions, its English version shall be treated as final.”

9. Instruction (vi) above, assumes significance in this case.

This instruction was also incorporated in the hall ticket which

allowed admission to the examination hall to ensure that it is

not missed.

10. The main grievance of the Petitioners before the High

Court seems to have been that the Tamil translation of the

English questions misled them. As the translation did not have

the same meaning as the English questions, since some of the

words used in Tamil were not accurately translated from

English. This led to incorrect answers. This being so, the

Petitioners prayed for the grant of ’Grace Marks’ to all the

students who gave the NEET-UG, 2018 Examination in the

Tamil medium for all 49 questions in which such errors

occurred.

11. The High Court held that the 49 question in Tamil were

ambiguous especially in respect of the students who had

throughout studied in Tamil medium and had scant knowledge

5 of English. The High Court further noted that the average

knowledge of English even for one who has studied in an

English Medium school is just about adequate.

12. The Division Bench seems to have lost sight of the fact

that the students appearing for the NEET-UG, 2018

Examination applied for admission to the course of MBBS/BDS

which is entirely taught in English. The facility of a bilingual

question paper was essentially meant for the students who

were more familiar in Tamil than in English. Moreover, the

expert body which set the examination seems to have

contemplated the difficulty that may arise in translation of

words from English to Tamil and had taken due precaution by

inserting instruction (vi) (supra) that required the students to

refer to the English version in case of any ambiguity.

This implies that knowledge of the subject in English

was considered a requirement and students were expected to

resolve any ambiguity by reference to the questions in English

Language. We must make note that there is no grievance

whatsoever that there was any difficulty about the questions

in English language.

13. Some of the examples of the discrepancies in

translation which occurred in the Tamil version, are as follows:

-

In the English version the students were asked to select the

incorrect option for the following sets of examples for

divergent evolution: -

(1) Forelimbs of man, bat and cheetah

6 (2) Heart of bat, man and cheetah (3) Eye of octopus, bat and man (4) Brain of bat, man and cheetah

14. If one has a look at actual discrepancies in the

questions that were said to have created confusion, it seems

that the word with the imprecise meaning could have been

easily discovered to be faulty and a simple reference to the

English version would have clarified the same. A simple

reference to the context in which the imprecise word occur in

the Tamil version would show that the word could not have

that meaning at all and there was obviously some mistake

which needed to be resolved by reference to the English

version.

15. According to the Respondent No. 1 in the Tamil version

the word ‘Cheetah’ is translated as ‘Sita’. Now it would be

obvious to apply the common sense that Sita, which is a name

of Goddess and used for human beings, cannot occur in the

example for divergent evolution that deals with man, bat and

cheetah etc. This mistake in ‘Cheetah’ appearing as ‘Sita’ is

said to have occurred because of mispronunciation of the

word ‘Chiruthaiyin’ as ‘Seethavin’. Similarly, the word

‘Octopus’ has been translated as ‘Aathadapuz’ which seems to

be the result of mispronunciation. Likewise, it was pointed out

that in respect of translating ‘Ragam’ which means variety. In

Tamil translation was ‘Nagam’ which means ‘Nail’. We do

agree that a plain reading, sounds absurd but it would be

7 obvious to anyone that the word ‘Nail’ would make no sense

where the question deals with a new variety of rice which was

patented by a foreign company simply because there cannot

be a nail of rice. The errors were not factual and could have

easily been answered by referring to the English Version.

16. We may not be understood to be taking the view that

mistakes in translation, which give a disparate meaning,

should be allowed to appear in question papers. The

translation must be accurate. We are informed that from the

next academic year 2019-20, the NEET Examination will be

conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), a society set

up by the Government of India with the objective of

conducting examination for grant of admission etc. The NTA is

established to ensure that the methodology of translation to

conduct the examination is improved. In order to make it

foolproof, it is proposed that the translation will be done by

subject experts who are proficient in both the languages i.e.

the source language and the target language.

17. The translation will be done from the target language to

the source language and back to the target language. Thus,

for example a question in English translated in Tamil will be re-

translated back to English. This dual translation approach will

remove any chance of ambiguity in the question paper. In

spite of this safeguard, it is proposed that in case of any

ambiguity between a regional language and English it will the

8 English version which will be final as held by this Court in the

order dated 25.01.2018 referred above.

We find this last mentioned clause is extremely

significant to ensure that the students have some basic

knowledge of English even if they are allowed the facility to

write the examination in their regional language. Presumably,

this is because the entire education for MBBS/BDS courses

throughout the country are taught in English.

18. Assuming that there was some justification in the plea

that students were prevented from understanding the

question and therefore could not answer properly, we find it

difficult to sustain the remedy provided by the High Court.

The number of students that appeared in the NEET-UG, 2018

was 13,23,672, approximately 10.5 lakh took it in English,

approximately 1.5 lakh opted for regional languages and of

these nearly 24,000 candidates took the examination in Tamil

language. Because of a mistake in translation which could

have been detected and avoided by the students, we find it

unjust that all the students across the board who took the

examination in Tamil have been awarded four marks for all the

49 questions without any reference to the answer of those

questions. The consequence is equally unjust and

unacceptable as the students who gave the examination in

Tamil have been unduly benefited only because they opted to

9 give examination in Tamil. It is said that there are some

students who might have otherwise failed but for the addition

of marks by the High Court most of these students have

scored higher than those who gave the examination in English

and other regional languages. This is mainly due to the blind

allocation of 196 marks to every student who gave the exam

in Tamil.

19. In Guru Nanak Dev University v. Saumil Garg and

others1, in somewhat similar circumstances where after the

CBSE opined that 10 out of the 21 key answers were incorrect,

this Court called for a report from the CBSE and the Delhi

University as regards correctness of those 10 answers and

thereupon in order to preserve merit the Court directed the

University to re-evaluate the answers to the aforesaid 8

questions with reference to key answers.

This course adopted by this Court was to prevent

arbitrariness in awarding marks. We see no attempt in the

impugned judgement to have the marks evaluated by an

independent expert body instead the High Court resorted to

blind allocation of full marks for each of the questions.

In fact, in the Guru Nanak Dev University case (supra)

wherein this Court found that in respect of vague questions

which were incapable of correct answers, the University could

1 (2005) 13 SCC 749

10 not have given credit for those questions to all the students,

irrespective if the said questions have been attempted or not.

Even so by the impugned judgment, the High Court has

made no attempt to see whether the students have in fact

attempted answers to the questions, which were claimed to be

imperfectly translated and has proceeded to award the full

marks for 49 questions to all candidates who had opted to give

the examination in Tamil. The method adopted by the High

Court is manifestly arbitrary and unjustified and cannot be

sustained.

20. The list of students who opted to give the NEET-UG,

2018 Examination in Tamil after the addition of 196 marks is

startling. For instance, a student who got 260 marks has been

awarded a total of 456 marks. A student with 137 marks

becomes entitled to 333 marks and the student who got 92

marks becomes entitled to 288 marks. Even students who

have 21 marks been entitled to 217 marks. It is clear that the

High Court lost sight of the primary duty of Court in such

matter that is to avoid arbitrary results.

21. The learned counsel for the Respondent No. 1 placed

reliance on the judgment of this Court in Kanpur University,

Through Vice Chancellor and Others v. Samir Gupta and Ors. 2.

According to the learned counsel this Court in the above case

granted marks to all the students appearing in the

2 (1983) 4 SCC 309

11 examination after finding an error in the answer key. The

learned counsel submits that the same approach should be

adopted in the present case. That case was decided in

entirely different circumstances. In the first place, the

examination then was not bi-lingual. Moreover, the question

before this Court was called upon to decide whether a student

who answered the question correctly be failed for an answer

which though correct, doesn’t accord with the key answer

supplied by the University.

No such situation has arisen in the case before us. This

is not a case wherein the students claimed that they have

been failed though they gave the correct answer; merely

because the answer key was wrong. The case is that the

student couldn’t answer because the question was wrongly

translated from English; there was no dispute about the

correctness of question in English. In any case, in the Kanpur

case (supra) the relief granted to the students was the grant

of three marks for each of the questions answered correctly by

them and the addition of one mark since one mark was

wrongly deducted for the questions wrongly answered. The

award of marks by the Court didn’t result in granting any

undue advantage to one section of students over the other

students.

22. For these reasons, we set aside the impugned judgment

of the High Court of Madras dated 10.07.2018. We direct that

from the year 2019-20 onwards the NEET-UG Examination will

12 be conducted by the National Testing Agency and the bilingual

examination will be conducted after the question paper is

translated as set out according to the instructions in the

affidavit dated 22.10. 2018 signed by Dr. Vikas Gupta,

Director, National Testing Agency as mentioned above.

23. Accordingly, the appeals are allowed.

….………………………………..J. [S.A. BOBDE]

….………………………………..J. [L. NAGESWARA RAO] NEW DELHI NOVEMBER 22, 2018

13