Delhi High Court’s February 5 order has quelled a post-exam storm over UPSC Civil Services Prelims 2023. Failed contenders’ bid to invalidate CSAT Paper-II questions met a wall, as Justices Amit Mahajan and Anil Khatriwal sustained CAT’s stance and expert validations.
Allegations centered on 11 items straying beyond Class 10 NCERT confines into senior secondary territory, allegedly compromising the ‘qualifying nature’ of CSAT and uniform playing field.
Yet the court underscored boundaries: ‘Judicial review in prelims is circumscribed. We don’t re-mark papers or overrule academicians sans malafide proof.’ UPSC’s rebuttal—via a thorough expert probe—sealed the deal, affirming all queries’ legitimacy and calibration.
‘Court’s not equipped for content audits,’ the bench clarified, rejecting compensatory demands. Mere expert dissent falls short of intervention threshold.
Non-joinder of appointed officers proved fatal too. Sought fixes—new lists, re-tests—threatened entrenched rights sans notice, flouting justice tenets.
CSE 2023’s closure amplified reluctance: ‘Disrupting concluded cycles harms more than helps,’ the order read, axing the writ and applications.
For future test-takers, it’s a primer on realism: UPSC’s mechanisms work; courts guard the gates, not micromanage syllabi. Exam sanctity prevails.