Law: Punjab Criminal Prosecution Service (Constitution, Functions and Powers) Act, 2006

Section: 8(1)

Punjab Criminal Prosecution Service (Constitution, Functions and Powers) Act (III of 2006)--- ----S. 8(1)---Competitive examination for post of Deputy Prosecutor General---Psychological assessment---Rounding off of marks to next whole number---Permissibility---Maxim expressio unis est exclusious alterius---Scope---Policy Decision No. 19.18 relating to Interviews by the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) specifically provided that average scores of the members of the Interview Committee could be 'rounded off', while Policy Decision No. 19.16 relating to psychological assessment did not expressly provide such concession---Maxim expressio unis est exclusious alterius i.e., the express mention of one thing implies the exclusion of the other thing, was applicable to the present case---Mentioning of rounding off in case of average marks obtained in the interview and the absence of such a concession for the marks obtained in psychological assessment clearly showed that the Punjab Public Service Commission never intended to extend the benefit of rounding off to the marks obtained in psychological assessment---Clear exclusion of rounding off in the case of psychological assessment under the relevant Policy also stood on a logical plane, as a total of only 5 marks were allocated for the psychological assessment, and rounding off, either up or down by a value of 0.5 amounted to 10% change in the total marks---Such change was a sizable percentage and could unfairly bridge the well-earned distinction between competitive candidates and weaken the credibility of the result---Supreme Court observed that any number could be round up to the next whole number or round down to the same whole number, depending on the value being 0.5 or more or less, however, the rule of rounding off, being a rule of convenience, must be applied with caution, so as not to give an unfair advantage to a candidate who had scored low or to disadvantage a candidate who had scored high. N.S. Bindra's - Interpretation of the Statutes, 10th Edition, p.770 ref. THIS JUDGMENT DELIVERED BY: SYED MANSOOR ALI SHAH, J.--- The question before the Court in the instant appeal and the connected C.P.L.A. No. 3832…

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