IN THE PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT AT CHANDIGARH CWP No.1820 of 2009 Date of decision: February 5, 2009 Silak Ram & others ... Petitioners Versus State of Haryana & another ... Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AJAY TEWARI Present : Mr. K.S. Malik-1, Advocate for the petitioners. *** 1. Whether Reporters of Local Newspapers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? AJAY TEWARI, J.(Oral) The petitioners have filed this writ petition for a direction to the respondent No.2 to set the paper of General Studies in Hindi also on various grounds including violation of Article 29(1) read with Section 350(A). Learned counsel for the petitioners has argued that the medium of instructions upto High School level in Haryana is Hindi. However, it cannot be forgotten that the Haryana Civil Services Examination is not based on the curriculum of High School level but based on the curriculum which is equal to at least Graduation level. Thus, the argument that petitioners studied in Hindi medium upto High School level would not make any difference. Had it been a case where the preliminary exam curriculum was based on High School syllabus, the argument may have merited acceptance. CWP No.1820 of 2009 -2- The petitioner No.1 is stated to be possessing qualification of M.Phil in Philosophy, petitioner No.2 is MA in Philosophy and petitioner No.3 possess Phd. Degree in Philosophy. Learned counsel for the petitioners has admitted that all the petitioners have attempted their Graduation and Post- graduation exam/theses in English. In the circumstances, the assertion that they do not have adequate knowledge of English to understand the question paper of General Studies and that this involves a violation of Constitutional Principles is hard to digest. The allegation that this stipulation violates the constitutional mandate is also fallacious. The only constitutional requirement is that the decision regarding the examination set up/syllabus should not be arbitrary or unreasonable. Considering that the academic level of the HCS Examination is at least graduation it cannot be said that the setting of the General Studies paper in the English language would be arbitrary or unreasonable. Learned counsel for the petitioners has informed this Court that as far as the optional subject is concerned liberty has been granted to the candidates to attempt the same in Hindi language. In my opinion, this stipulation could be said to be in furtherance of Article 29 (1) read with Section 350(A). Consequently, I find no merit in this writ petition and dismiss the same. No costs. February 05, 2009 ( AJAY TEWARI ) sonia JUDGE