Supreme Court Refuses To Stall BPSC Main Exams, Dismisses Petitions Alleging Paper Leak

The Supreme Court today(April 23) refused to stall the Bihar Public Services Commission's (BPSC) Main Exam, which is scheduled to take place on April 25, over allegations of paper leak during the Preliminary Examinations.

A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan dismissed a batch of petitions challenging the 70th Combined Competitive Exams (preliminary) conducted by the Bihar Public Services Commission (BPSC) on December 13, 2024 on the grounds of an alleged paper leak.

Senior Advocates Anjana Prakash and Colin Gonsalves appeared for the petitioners. The petitioners argued that there were WhatsApp messages showing that the questions got leaked before the exam. They also relied upon certain video clips showing that answers were announced through loudspeakers in some centres. However, the bench asked if the digital evidence could be treated as authentic. The bench viewed the video clips during the hearing.

The bench also observed during the hearing that all the allegations pertained to one particular exam centre (Bapu Pariksha Parisar), where a re-examination was done. Justice Manmohan also said that even as per the petitioners' allegations, the paper leak happened after candidates had entered the exam halls. Anjana Prakash, however said that there was no certainty regarding that and when the process was under a cloud, a re-test is necessary.

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, for the State of Bihar & Bihar Public Service Commission, stated that there are four sets of question papers in which the questions are jumbled.

 Senior Advocate Gonsalves submitted that about 24 questions were identical to the questions given by coaching centres. However, the bench did not find anything unusual in that, as in many competitive exams, questions from the mock papers are seen. "In competitive exams, you find 30-40 percent questions come from the booklet which has thousands of questions..." Justice Manmohan said. Justice Manmohan, in a lighter vein, also recalled that in Campus Law Centre, there used to sale of duggies and about 90% of the questions came from them.

SG Tushar Mehta said that out of 150 questions, only two questions were verbatim from mock question papers. Gonsalves contested the claim and said that many questions were identical to the questions from coaching centres.

Justice Manmohan remarked during the hearing that insecurities of the candidates were being exploited. "Everyone is playing with the insecurities of each other. Please understand, examiner standard is not that high. It's very unfortunate that no exam is reaching conclusion. We are suspecting everyone of foul play."

To summarise, the petitioner, Anand Legal Aid Forum Trust, first approached the Supreme Court in January seeking cancellation of the exam on grounds of alleged paper leak. The petitioner also sought the constitution of a Board of members to inquire into the BPSC's exam conduct. However, the Court refused to entertain it and directed the petitioner to approach the Patna High Court.

Subsequently, in March, the High Court dismissed multiple petitions on grounds that there was no "definite evidence of malpratice at all centres". It directed that BPSC can go ahead with conducting Mains exams. Challenging the order of the High Court, the present SLP has been filed.

The issue arises out of the alleged paper leak for the 70th Combined Competitive Exams (preliminary) conducted by the BPSC. The exams were given by nearly 5 lakh candidates across 900 centres on December 13, 2024.

The protestors have demanded that the entire exam be cancelled and conducted afresh. These demands were floated after the BPSC allowed a re-test of only 10,000 candidates who had been assigned the Bapu Pariksha Parisar exam centre where the alleged leak occurred.

Case Details : ANAND LEGAL AID FORUM TRUST Versus BIHAR PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION AND ORS., SLP(C) No. 11363/2025

Appearances: Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves with Advocate Umesh Sisodia; Senior Advocate Anjana Prakash for one petitioner; Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for BPSC and State of Bihar 

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