UPSC Prelims 2021— Question 18

A retired Supreme Court judge may be requested to sit and act as a judge of the Supreme Court under Article 128, with the President's prior consent and the Chief Justice's request. A High Court also possesses review jurisdiction over its own judgments, though its review power is exercised within constitutional and procedural limits. Hence both statements are correct. The final answer-key position for Set C identifies option C as the correct option. Option A — 1 only — is not correct because it does not satisfy the specific condition tested in the question; it represents an alternative that is contradicted, incomplete, or less precise than the accepted answer. Option B — 2 only — is not correct because it does not satisfy the specific condition tested in the question; it represents an alternative that is contradicted, incomplete, or less precise than the accepted answer. Option C — Both 1 and 2 — is correct because it is the alternative that matches the constitutional, historical, geographical, scientific or economic principle established above. Option D — Neither 1 nor 2 — is not correct because it does not satisfy the specific condition tested in the question; it represents an alternative that is contradicted, incomplete, or less precise than the accepted answer. For PYQ interpretation, the distinction between the correct alternative and merely related facts is important. UPSC often places plausible distractors beside the precise statement that matches the underlying rule, chronology, definition or empirical relationship. The answer should therefore be read against the exact wording of the question rather than against a broadly related fact.