New Delhi, Jan 7 (IANS): In a relief for over 3,000 candidates, who in 2019 cracked the entrance exam for Sub-Inspector in Uttar Pradesh, but could not join due to pending litigation, the Supreme Court on Friday cleared decks for their appointment.

In an 81-page judgment, a bench headed by Justice U.U. Lalit said: "The decisions made by expert bodies, including the Public Services Commissions, should not be lightly interfered with, unless instances of arbitrary and mala fide exercise of power are made out."

In 2016, the UP Police Recruitment and Promotion Board had issued an advertisement for the recruitment of over 3,000 sub-inspectors, platoon commanders (PAC) and fire officers based on an online written examination.

A total of 6,30,296 applications were received and an online examination was held on different dates and different shifts, and with different sets of examination papers. The huge number of applicants led to a normalisation process, which meant equalising the scores of the candidates who appeared in multiple shifts based on the difficulty level.

According to the rule, each candidate had not only to score 50 per cent in each of the sections, but also required to score at least 50 per cent after the normalisation.

The bench, also comprising Justices Vineet Saran, said: "In conclusion, the exercise undertaken by the Board in adopting the process of normalisation at the initial stage, that is to say, at the level of Rule 15(b) of Recruitment Rules was quite consistent with the requirements of law. The power exercised by the Board was well within its jurisdiction and as emphasised by the High Court there were no allegations of mala fides or absence of bona fides at any juncture of the process."

The top court allowed the state government to appoint the candidates, as per the result, declared in 2019, which was earlier quashed by Allahabad High Court on a clutch of petitions claiming that the board adopted the wrong process. The petitioners had alleged that call letters were issued to those candidates who had not obtained more than 50 per cent raw marks but secured more than 50 per cent normalised score.

The Uttar Pradesh government moved the top court challenging the high court order.

The top court set aside the high court order and directed the state government to implement the result declared in 2019. "We have, therefore, no hesitation in accepting the challenge raised on behalf of the state and allowing these appeals and setting aside the judgment and order passed by the High Court presently under challenge. The results declared by the Board on 28th February 2019 shall now be given effect as early as possible," it said.