Mangalam Jessica, v. The State Of Telangana,

THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE V. RAMASUBRAMANIAN AND THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G. SHYAM PRASAD WRIT PETITION No. 34399 of 2016 ORDER: (Per VRS,J) The petitioner, who could not secure the cut off mark in EAMCET-III, 2016 for admission to undergraduate medical courses, has come up with the present writ petition, seeking a direction to the respondents to treat her as having correctly answered question No.64. Heard Smt. S.A.V. Ratnam, learned counsel for the petitioner, and Mr. V. Rama Chandra Goud, learned standing counsel for Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, appearing for the respondents 2 and 3.

The dispute raised in this writ petition lies in a very narrow compass. Insofar as question No.64 is concerned, the petitioner has shaded the 2nd circle, which appears to be the correct answer. However, she has not shaded it fully and completely. In addition, she has also put a mark in the 3rd circle. Therefore, she was not given marks for question No.64.

Contending that an adolescent girl, who just came out of school, who knew the correct answer, but who put a small dot in a

wrong circle in a tense moment, should not be penalized, the petitioner seeks a mandamus. But, there is no scope for entertaining such arguments in a competitive examination, when lakhs of candidates compete with each other for a few hundred seats. The instructions given to candidates, who appeared for EAMCET-III, 2016, make it clear that if darkening is done in more than one circle even partially, that will be treated as a wrong answer. According to the petitioner, subjecting small children to such cruel procedure itself is not correct. May be, if answer sheets are valid manually, there may be scope for such contentions. Since mechanical devices do not commit any errors, as human beings would do, there is no scope for entertaining the writ petition. Therefore, the Writ Petition is dismissed.

Consequently, miscellaneous petitions if any pending in the writ petition shall stand dismissed. No order as to costs. __________________________ V. RAMASUBRAMANIAN, J _____________________ G. SHYAM PRASAD, J 24th October, 2016 Note: Furnish C.C. by 25.10.2016.

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THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE V. RAMASUBRAMANIAN √ AND THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G. SHYAM PRASAD Writ Petition No. 34399 of 2016 (Per VRS,J) 24th October, 2016 cbs