HC shows no mercy to DSP debarred for copying in dept exam

Observing that the case portrays the sorry state of affairs that was prevailing wherein a DSP has resorted to copying to clear the examination, Justice N Anand Venkatesh said , “The Controller of Examinations has indeed commented that in the present case, the sameness (not even similarity) is 100 per cent. In the light of the specific finding, there is no doubt in the mind of this court that the petitioner has resorted to copying. Therefore, there is every justification for debarring the petitioner from appearing in the examination for three years.”

The Controller of Examinations had held that while sentences were written based on one’s understanding of the subject matter, there are hundreds of permutations and combinations available to present ideas. But in this case, the sameness (not even similarity) was 100 per cent that it was not possible to choose the same constructs and formats as given in the book without copying it from the source.

“It is clear from the above order that the petitioner has copied word by word from the textbook and, in fact, the structure, the content and the construction of sentences in the answer sheet tallied exactly with those of the text book,” Justice Anand Venkatesh said.

Also, noting that the petitioner was not an immature school student but a DSP who secured the position after clearing Group-I examination, Justice Anand Venkatesh held, “Therefore, the punishment must be more stringent and there is no question of any leniency which can be shown in favour of thepetitioner.”

The petitioner, RK Sasidhar, had contended that he was appointed on March 10, 2017, after clearing Group-I Examination. After training, he was serving as DSP at Thiruchuzhi in Virudhunagar. Thereafter, he had applied to write half-yearly examination and language test in March,2018. But he was served with a memo on November 23, 2018, that he had copied and written the examination in thesubject of Tamil Nadu Police Standing Orders.

His counsel had submitted that Sasidhar did not copy from any textbooks or notes. He had written the examination for the entire three hours and was not caught in the examination hall for copying. He added that no incriminating materials were seized from the Sasidhar before or during or after the examination and the entire allegation was baseless.