Delhi High Court · 2025

W.P.(C) 10909/2025 and connected matters Page 1 of 5 $~61 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI+ W.P.(C) 10909/2025, CM APPLs. 44997/2025 & 44998/2025 HIMANSHU SINGH AND ORS. .....Petitioners Through: Mr. Dushyant Pratap Singh, Mr. Niteen Kumar Sinha, Mr. Vikram Pratap Singh, Mr. Shantanu Tiwari, Mr. Prakhar Singh S., Advocates. versus REGISTRAR (RECRUITMENT), SUPREME COURT OF INDIA .....Respondent Through: Ms. Pratima N. Lakra, CGSC with Mr. Chandan Prajapati, Mr. Shailendra K. Mishra, Advocates for respondent with Mr. Gaurav Kapoor, Ms. Sonika Khurana. CORAM:HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE PRATEEK JALANO R D E R% 30.07.20251.The petitioners, ten in number, were candidates for recruitment to the post of Junior Court Assistant in the establishment of the respondent – Supreme Court of India, pursuant to an advertisement dated 04.02.2025. The grievance in these writ petitions is against the result of a Typing Test conducted on 04.06.2025 as part of the recruitment process. 2.I have heard Mr. Dushyant Pratap Singh, learned counsel for the petitioners, and Ms. Pratima N. Lakra, learned counsel for the respondent, who appears on advance notice. 3.The recruitment advertisement provides for the scheme of the examination in four stages, including an Objective Type Question Paper, Objective Type Computer Knowledge Test, Typing Test, and Descriptive This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 01/08/2025 at 12:57:43 W.P.(C) 10909/2025 and connected matters Page 2 of 5 Test. 4.The petitioners were called for the Typing Test, having qualified in Objective Type Question Paper and the Objective Type Computer Knowledge Test. The petitioners’ grievance is that they have not qualified in the Typing Test. They attribute this to a technical glitch, whereby their papers were submitted before they had completed typing the prescribed passage. 5.In this connection, Mr. Singh draws my attention to certain provisions in the instructions printed on the admit card issued to candidates for the Typing Test. The “Instructions to candidates” mentioned that the typing passage will consist of 350 words, and the time for completing the passage was provided as ten minutes. The other relevant extracts of the admit card are reproduced hereinbelow: “15. Be patient during examination and keep calm. You can contact the invigilator for any problem, such as:- a. Key-board error b. Machine automatic shutdown c. Machine auto lock d. Power interruption e. Forced session time-out xxxx xxxx xxxx 23. If typed Paragraph is completed before the allotted time, submit button will be enabled and candidate can submit the Typed Passage and speed will be calculated as if the candidate has typed the passage in full allotted time. xxxx xxxx xxxx Important Instructions regarding Typing Speed Test xxxx xxxx xxxx Instructions to the Candidates:- Typing passage will contain 350 words (1750 key depressions) exactly This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 01/08/2025 at 12:57:43 W.P.(C) 10909/2025 and connected matters Page 3 of 5 and 5 characters including spaces will constitute a word. xxxx xxxx xxxx CALCULATION OF KEY DEPRESSIONS, MISTAKES AND MARKING ETC. Candidates have to type 1750 key depressions during typing test (with space) including 3% permissible mistakes and there must not be any omission of characters/space. In case of omission of word(s), comma, full stop etc., the key depression will automatically be less leading to decrease of prescribed speed of 35 w.p.m.” 6.Relying upon the provision that the typing passage would contain 350 words (1750 key depressions) and the provision of clause 23 extracted above, Mr. Singh submits that the “Submit Button” was to be enabled onlyif the candidate has completed the typed paragraph before the allotted time, or upon lapse of the allotted time of ten minutes. It is the case of the petitioners that, due to a technical glitch, the “Submit Button” was in fact enabled in their cases prior to the completion of the passage, ranging from 1746 and 1749 key depressions, instead of 1750. In view of the fact that every missing key depression, ultimately affects the result of the candidate, Mr. Singh submits that the petitioners have been deprived of their right to participate in the next stage of recruitment due to the said technical error. 7.The petitioners have also submitted representations to the respondent, but those representations have failed to elicit a response. Some of the representations have been placed on record. 8.Ms. Lakra, on the other hand, has been instructed that there was no technical glitch in the examination and, in any event, she submits that these disputed facts cannot be adjudicated by way of writ proceedings. She further submits that the invigilators, who were present at the spot, This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 01/08/2025 at 12:57:43 W.P.(C) 10909/2025 and connected matters Page 4 of 5 were not informed of any alleged discrepancy. 9.Having heard learned counsel for the parties, I am not persuaded to interfere with the recruitment process on this allegation. Even taking the petitioners’ case at the highest, in terms of the advertisement, the test was to be submitted either upon completion of the time of ten minutes or upon completion of the paragraph. The instructions relied upon by the petitioners record that the “submit buttonwill be enabled and candidate can submit the typed passage” before the allotted time, if the typed paragraph was completed. The allegation of the petitioners is not that their tests were, in fact, submitted without their own intervention, but that they were misled by the fact that the “Submit Button” was prematurely enabled. This position becomes clear from paragraph No. 9 of the writ petition, which reads as follows: “9. That it is respectfully submitted that the Admit Card issued for the Stage-II Examination, i.e., the Typing Speed Test, contained detailed instructions applicable to all candidates, spanning from page 2 to page 5. Under the subheading “Instructions to Candidates”, at Point No. 23 on page 4, it was specifically stated that the “Submit” button would be enabled only if the typed paragraph was completed before the expiry of the allotted time. However, in the case of the Petitioners, the “Submit” button became active even before the requisite word limit/ key depression was reached and while substantial time still remained. Consequently, the Petitioners, under a bona fide impression that the required number of words/key depression had been typed, inadvertently submitted their responses prematurely during the Typing Speed Test. It was clearly stated that: “If the typed paragraph is completed before the allotted time, the ‘Submit’ button will be enabled.”” [Emphasis supplied.] 10.Thus, even according to the petitioners, the “Submit Button” was enabled in advance of completing 1750 key depressions, but the papers were submitted only when they clicked on the “Submit Button”. It is This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 01/08/2025 at 12:57:43 W.P.(C) 10909/2025 and connected matters Page 5 of 5 difficult to accept at face value, that the petitioners would themselves be unaware as to whether they had completed the passage, and were thus misled simply by the “Submit Button” being enabled. 11.At this stage, it is submitted that some of the petitioners, in fact, did not press the “Submit Button”, but waited for the lapse of the allotted time of ten minutes. No such case is made out in the writ petition, but even if it is so, it would not place the case at a higher footing. As far as such candidates are concerned, the Typing Test was to be submitted in any eventuality, after the lapse of ten minutes, and no prejudice has been caused to them. 12.Although Ms. Lakra submits that there was, in fact, no technical glitch at all, as affidavits have not been called for, I have examined the case on the strength of the case pleaded by the petitioners. It may, however, be added that the allegation of a technical error, if traversed, would likely require a factual adjudication, which would be beyond the scope of adjudication under Article 226 of the Constitution. Ms. Lakra is also right in pointing out that the writ petitioners have not averred that they raised this contention with the invigilators at the time of the examination; there is no averment in the writ petition to the contrary. 13.For the aforesaid reasons, I am unable to come to the assistance of the writ petitioners in this petition, which stands dismissed. 14.All pending applications also stand disposed of. PRATEEK JALAN, JJULY 30, 2025/‘Bhupi’/AD/