Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court recently refused to cancel an MPSC departmental promotion examination for state excise personnel, holding that a leaked marking pattern, though a procedural lapse, did not vitiate the entire process.A division bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Rajnish Vyas dismissed a plea upholding the MAT’s majority view. The petition had been filed by 11 State Excise constables challenging the examination held on Sept 23, 2025, for promotion to 137 posts of sub-inspector in state’s excise dept.The petitioners alleged an unofficial PDF showing topic-wise and subtopic-wise distribution of marks for Paper I and Paper II had circulated on WhatsApp groups about a week before the examination. They said the actual question papers matched that distribution and argued that thus, the leak gave some candidates an unfair advantage.“The leak of marking pattern is a serious procedural lapse that demands strict disciplinary action,” MAT’s majority view had said, adding that in the absence of a verified question-paper leak, “a blanket cancellation of the exam is not justifiable.” The HC endorsed that reasoning, observing “the core testing mechanism remains intact.”Two MAT judges made contrasting observations. The matter was referred to a third member who agreed with the view against cancellation. The application was dismissed on July 22, 2026.The petitioners argued that no proper points of reference had been framed before the third member and that the leak had impaired fairness under Articles 14 and 16. GP and senior counsel Deven Chauhan opposed the plea. Several intervenors also opposed the cancellation through senior counsel Mohan Sudame.Judges said the petitioners had not shown that the leak was systemic, widespread or incapable of being investigated. They relied on Supreme Court rulings cautioning against cancelling entire selection processes unless fraud or malpractice undermines the examination as a whole.The court also observed that the syllabus was vast, and that the alleged leak came only seven days before the examination and that several WhatsApp group members had questioned the authenticity of the PDF. It further noted that the petitioners themselves were aware of the material being on the group.“In the present matter, extreme care must be taken to ensure that the innocents are not unfairly penalized alongside the wrongdoers by cancelling the entire process itself,” the bench said.
