The Allahabad High Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh Education Service Selection Commission (UPESSC) to exclude two disputed questions from the evaluation of the Uttar Pradesh Teacher Eligibility Test (UPTET) 2026 and recalculate candidates’ scores. The court has also made it clear that the benefit of the revised evaluation must be extended to all similarly placed candidates, rather than being limited to those who approached the court.The order was passed by Justice Vinod Diwakar on October 28 while hearing a writ petition filed by Vijay Sonkar and three other candidates. The petitioners had challenged the evaluation of Questions 36 and 37 in the final answer key, contending that both questions had more than one correct answer.According to PTI, the court found the evaluation method adopted for the disputed questions unsustainable and directed the commission to remove both questions from the assessment.
Allahabad High Court orders removal of two UPTET 2026 questions
The dispute concerned Questions 36 and 37 in the UPTET 2026 final answer key. The commission had accepted two options as correct for each question. For Question 36, options B and D were treated as correct, while options A and D were accepted for Question 37.The petitioners argued that the commission had awarded marks only to candidates who selected either of the two accepted options. Candidates who chose other options were denied marks, even though the questions themselves admitted multiple correct answers.The court held that such an evaluation approach could not be sustained. Candidates cannot be placed at a disadvantage or given an advantage based on their responses to questions that do not have a single unambiguous correct answer.Relying on its earlier decision in the UPTET 2018 case, Smt Shimla Singh vs State of Uttar Pradesh, the court directed UPESSC to exclude both disputed questions from the evaluation process.
UPTET 2026 evaluation to be based on 148 questions
Following the court’s direction, UPTET 2026 will be treated as an examination comprising 148 questions instead of the original 150.The qualifying marks will also have to be recalculated on the basis of the revised total, while retaining the prescribed qualifying percentages. The commission will accordingly have to reassess candidates’ scores after removing questions 36 and 37 from the evaluation.The ruling has a direct bearing on candidates whose results may change after the revised assessment. It requires the commission to apply the corrected evaluation methodology uniformly rather than retaining the earlier scores.
Court directs UPESSC to revise scores of all similarly placed candidates
The petitioners had been declared unsuccessful in the UPTET 2026 results announced on August 26. Their normalised scores were 81.39740, 81.32196, 80.40104 and 80.94471, respectively, against the qualifying mark of 82.The court directed UPESSC to recalculate their scores and make the necessary corrections to their results and scorecards.Importantly, the court clarified that the relief must not be confined to the four petitioners. All candidates similarly placed must receive the benefit of the revised evaluation, irrespective of whether they had filed a petition before the court.While examining the issue, the court also considered earlier judicial precedents, including decisions in Ashok Yadav, Ran Vijay Singh and Rishal, concerning the evaluation of examination questions with multiple accepted answers.
Revised UPTET results will not guarantee appointment
The court has also drawn a distinction between qualifying the eligibility examination and securing a teaching appointment.It clarified that the revised evaluation and any resulting change in eligibility status would not automatically entitle candidates to appointment or selection in subsequent recruitment exercises.The relief granted by the court is confined to correcting the UPTET 2026 results and determining candidates’ eligibility status under the applicable rules. Candidates will still have to fulfil the prescribed conditions for any subsequent recruitment process.The commission will now have to implement the revised evaluation in accordance with the court’s directions and issue corrected results and scorecards wherever required.(With inputs from PTI)
