Gujarat high court lifts 3-year ban on candidate from appearing in competitive exams

The Gujarat high court lifted a three-year exam ban on a woman candidate, thus allowing her to take competitive exams conducted by the Gujarat Subordinate Services Selection Board (GSSSB).

By lifting the bar, justice Biren Vaishnav permitted her to appear in an exam for recruitment of non-secretariat clerks on Sunday.

The high court quashed the Board's decision of debarring her for three years with the observation that the Board's approach required some compassion.

The case involved 29-year-old Dhara Joshi from Amreli. She appeared in the board's test on July 31, 2021, and just 15 minutes before the test was to end, her phone rang and the invigilator confiscated it.

The Board conducted a proceeding and debarred her from its exams for the next three years for "using unfair means" during the exam.

Joshi approached the HC and submitted that her mother's condition was critical due to cancer and she was discharged from the hospital on July 31.

She was under tremendous pressure and forgot to deposit her phone outside the exam hall.

She did not intend to use the phone and therefore the phone was not put on silent mode and argued that carrying a mobile phone in the exam hall itself cannot be termed an unfair means.