Bhubaneswar: The Supreme Court came down heavily on the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) after the latter refused to acknowledge a mistake made in the evaluation of the answer sheet of a judicial service aspirant.

A bench of the Apex Court comprising Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and Vijay Bishnoi was hearing a petition filed by the OPSC against a High Court order that had directed the public service commission to pay Rs 1 lakh as compensation to the affected candidate.

The SC bench observed that such mistakes in the answer sheet evaluation must not be overlooked and that the OPSC should be held accountable.

" You, as an examination body, commit these kinds of blunders - you should be taken to task. How will the young generation have faith and trust in you? ... This Commission is adamant. Some arrogant elements sitting there. You are still adamant, telling that there is no mistake ... Commission thinks of itself too high," Justice Kant while dismissing the petition filed by the OPSC.

As per the case records, Jotirmayee Dutta had appeared the written test for Odisha Judicial Service Examination in September 2023. She failed to qualify in the test by a narrow margin of five marks.

Dutta later learnt that her answer to a question in the Law of Property paper had been left unevaluated during the evaluation while the marks awarded in other questions were below her expectation.

She moved the Orissa High Court seeking re-evaluation of her answer sheet in the Law of Property paper.

Hearing Dutta’s plea, the HC ordered for an independent assessment of her answer script by experts from three reputed universities in Odisha.

The re-evaluation confirmed that one of Dutta’s answers had been overlooked. However, she could not qualify in the exam even though the marks to that particular question were awarded subsequently.

A bench of the Orissa HC had directed the OPSC to provide Rs 1 lakh as compensation to Dutta for the distress caused to her due the error during the evaluation.