UPSC to Supreme Court: Will release answer key after prelims

NEW DELHI: After resisting for years the release of the answer key immediately after the preliminary examination , UPSC has given in to students' demands and told SC it will publish a provisional answer key after the exam "to enhance transparency in its functioning", and will entertain objections of candidates on discrepancies in the exam paper.

The declaration was made in an affidavit filed by UPSC in SC on a batch of petitions by civil services aspirants from across the country.

The petitioners, including Vidushi Pandey from Uttarakhand, had moved court seeking that the answer key be released immediately after the exam and before declaration of results, so that candidates can raise objections, and errors can be corrected on time.

At present, the key is published after the final examination, almost a year after the preliminary exam, and virtually shuts the door on candidates seeking a remedy for any fault in the question paper.

That as a consequence of comprehensive deliberation and considering the pious role assigned to the UPSC as a constitutional body, the Commission has arrived at a conscious and well-considered decision as under:

a) Publishing the Provisional Answer key, after the Preliminary Examination is conducted;

b) Representations/objections will be sought from the candidates who appeared in the examination. Each such representation/objection should be supported by three authoritative sources..., the affidavit said.

The students have been fighting the legal battle for the last two years and the commission had at first strongly objected to their plea.

It finally relented after senior advocate Jaideep Gupta , who was appointed by the SC as amicus curiae, told the court that greater transparency was needed in the examination process and suggested that a provisional answer key be published a day after the examination and examinees be allowed to file objections to the questions as well as the answers within a week.