The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement for procedural fairness and proper handling of plagiarism cases, emphasizing the need for a fair hearing and a proper finding of guilt before punitive actions are taken.

JUDGMENT

Krishna S.Dixit, J. - Petitioner who joined the Five Year B.A. LL.B (Hons.) Course in the respondent University from the Academic Year 2017-18, is declared to have secured F Grade in Child Rights Law examination held on 13.03.2020 since he was not given any mark because of alleged plagiarism of the Project Work in question; he was also not allowed to take Special Repeat Examination of third trimester in the third year, allegedly in breach of assurance of the University.

2. Aggrieved by the above action of the respondent - University, petitioner has knocked at the doors of Writ Court with the following prayers:

(i) To call for the records relating to issue of impugned endorsement by the 2nd respondent University dated 01.08.2020 vide Annexure-H and the order dated 10.08.2020, passed by the 1st respondent against the appeal of the petitioner, (vide Annexure-L1) denying the petitioner admission to Fourth Year B.A. LL.B.(Hons.) for the Academic Year 2020-21 and after perusal set aside the same.

(ii) To direct the respondent University to await result of extra seminar course that the petitioner is permitted to pursue in July, 2020 and get himself promoted to Next Year .

3. After service of notice, the respondents having entered appearance through their advocate, have filed Statement of Objections on 17.10.2020 and make submission in justification of the impugned action.

4. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and having perused the petition papers, this Court is inclined to grant relief to the petitioner as under and for the following reasons:

a) The essential grievance of the petitioner emanates from the so called admitted charge of plagiarism and therefore, advertence to the extant Regulations concerning the same becomes relevant; Clause 4 of Regulation III of the B.A LL.B (Hons.) Academic and Examinations Regulations of 2009 reads as under:

(4) Plagiarism:

a) Any evidence of plagiarism, if found by the subject teacher , in the form of noncitation of sources or copying from another student s project or form his/her own earlier project without acknowledgment of the same, will result in the matter being referred to the UGC Chairperson by the subject teacher in writing as also a written intimation to the student in this regard by the teacher.

b) If the matter is referred to the UGC Chairperson by the teacher, the UGC Chairperson shall refer the matter to the Vice Chancellor immediately. The Vice Chancellor, in turn, shall look into the matter and decide whether to refer the matter to the Disciplinary Matters Advisory Review and Investigation Committee (hereinafter, DARIC ) for disciplinary action at the earliest. In the event that the Vice Chancellor decides not to refer the matter to the DARIC, he shall record his reasons in writing for the same.

c) Pending the decision of the Vice Chancellor or the DARIC, if referred thereto, viva voce for the project shall be conducted.

d) If the student is found guilty of plagiarism, he/she shall be punished as per the DARIC Rules .

Apparently, this provision of the Regulations prescribes an elaborate procedure with several hierarchical checks & balances, presumably because very serious consequences follow a proven act of plagiarism; the text & context of the said Regulation show both the prescription of procedure and designation of the personnel, who process the complaint of plagiarism stagewise.

b) These Regulations do not define plagiarism, is not in dispute; in fact, the University Circular dated 04.10.2019 at Annexure-R9 to the S.O. states: From the 2nd term of A.Y. 2019-20, the U.G. Council will clarify the concept and application of Plagiarism rules through FAQs to be circulated in the first fortnight of this term. The AER 2009 will be applied in full from November 2019 ; therefore the concept needs to be understood in a common parlance; Ramanatha Aiyar s Advanced Law Lexicon 3rd Edn, Wadhwa Nagpur states: Plagiarism: Publishing borrowed thoughts as original; stealing