- (1.) The Respondent herein appeared in the Engineering Services Examination ('ESE') conducted, in the year 1999, by the Union Public Service Commission ('UPSC'). A few months after the examination, the Respondent received a Notice, dated 29.3.2000, issued by the UPSC requiring him to show cause, if any, as to why action, as stipulated in the Notice, be not taken against him. The Notice read as under: I am directed to refer to your candidature for the above mentioned examination and to say that while checking your answer papers in Civil Engineering Paper II, it has been observed that the solutions to many questions in your answer sheet are similar to that of Shri Shailendra Kumar (Roll No. 10976). It has also been noticed that both of you have tried the same number of questions and, therefore, it is evidently a case of mutual copying. You have, thus, violated Instruction No. 13 of the "Instructions to Candidates" which is reproduced below: No candidate shall copy from the paper of any other candidate, nor permit his own paper to be copied, nor give, nor attempt to give, nor obtain, nor attempt to obtain irregular assistance of any description.
(2.) Your attention is also invited to para 6 of the notice of the examination which inter alia, provides that "a candidate who is or has been declared by the Commission to be guilty of using unfair means during the examination, may, in addition to rendering himself liable to criminal prosecution, be liable: (a) to be disqualified by the Commission from the examination for which he is a candidate and/or (b) to be debarred either permanently or for a specified period by the Commission from any examination or selection held by them. You are, therefore, required to explain the circumstances leading to the observation made in para 1 of this letter. Your reply to the show-cause notice should reach this office within 10 days of the date of issue of this letter, failing which your candidature is liable to be cancelled. 2. As can be noted from the above, in terms of the said show-cause notice, the allegation, made against the Respondent, was, in brief, that while checking his answer papers in the Civil Engineering Paper II, it had been observed that solutions to many of the questions in his (Respondents) answer sheets were similar to the ones, which one Shri Shailendra Kumar, who was also an examinee in the said examination, had attempted. The said show-cause notice, as can be noticed from the above, also informed the Respondent that since both he (i.e., the Respondent) and the said Shailendra Kumar had tried the same questions, it was evident, according to the UPSC, that there was a case of mutual copying and the Respondent has thereby violated Instruction No. 13 of the "Instructions to the candidates", which states that no candidate shall copy the paper of any oilier candidate, nor permit his own paper to be copied, nor give, nor attempt to give, nor obtain, nor attempt to obtain irregular assistance of any description.
(3.) The Respondent submitted his reply to the said show-cause notice. Responding to the said show-cause notice, the present Respondent contended in his letter, dated 3.4.2000, that he knows the said Shailendra Kumar since July, 1995, that is, for the last about four years, they had prepared for various competitive examinations together and they had shared, with each other, the notes, books, accommodation and kitchen and since he (Respondent) had been appearing in the Engineering Services Examination since 1994 and had not been able to qualify, he (Respondent) and the said Shailendra Kumar had decided to prepare selective topics thoroughly rather than all the topics superficially and it was, therefore, quite possible that some of their attempted questions would match. The Respondent, in his reply, dated 3.4.2000, further stated that he never ever, during the examination, tried to copy any question or shared views with the said Shailendra Kumar and that he denies the charges levelled against him.;