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2014 Supreme(Cal) 728
High Court of Judicature at Calcutta
JYOTIRMAY BHATTACHARYA & TAPASH MOOKHERJEE, JJ.
Anirudh Mohta
Versus
The State of West Bengal & Others
M.A.T.No. 2045 of 2014 with C.A.N.No. 11324 of 2014 (Appellate Side)
Decided on: 11-12-2014
For the Appellant:Kishore Dutta, Mayukh Mitra, Sandip Kundu, Advocates.
For the Respondents:Subhabrata Datta, Sanatan Panja, R2 to R5, Billwadal Bhattacharyya, Arkaprava Sen, R6 to R8, S.K. Panja, Tara Prasad Haldar, Advocates.
A university authority cannot withhold the publication of the result of a candidate who was permitted to appear in the Semester examination, even if the candidate was later found to be ineligible.
Headnote:
EDUCATION - JADAVPUR UNIVERSITY - BBA COURSE - ELIGIBILITY FOR APPEARING IN SEMESTER EXAMINATION - PUBLICATION OF RESULT - WRONGLY ISSUED ADMIT CARD - NON-FULFILLMENT OF ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA - SUBSEQUENT DISCOVERY - WITHHOLDING OF RESULT - COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY AUTHORITIES' NEGLIGENCE - SEPARATE TEST FOR STUDENT - CLARIFICATION ON ATTENDANCE CRITERIA - DIRECTIONS ISSUED.
Fact of the Case:
The petitioner, a student of JD Birla Institute affiliated to Jadavpur University, was prevented from attending classes in the 5th Semester and his result in the 4th Semester was withheld due to failure to obtain qualifying marks in Tutorial Sessional Briefting (TSB).
Finding of the Court:
1. The college and university authorities were responsible for the situation jeopardizing the petitioner's future career due to their gross negligence in not following the Examination Regulations. 2. The petitioner was not instrumental in the procedural lapses and should not be penalized for the same. 3. The petitioner was allowed to appear in the 4th Semester examination without proper assessment of his eligibility, and his result cannot be withheld now. 4. The petitioner can overcome his ineligibility by passing a separate test in the TSB papers where he failed to obtain qualifying marks.
Issues: 1. Whether the petitioner was eligible to appear in the 4th Semester Examination. 2. Whether the University authority was justified in withholding the publication of the petitioner's result. 3. Whether the petitioner should be penalized for the lapses of the college and university authorities. 4. Whether a separate test can be conducted for the petitioner to overcome his ineligibility.
Ratio Decidendi: 1. The University authority failed to adhere to the Examination Regulations by issuing the admit card to the petitioner without examining his eligibility. 2. The petitioner had no role or misrepresentation in the issuance of the admit card and should not be penalized for the lapses of the authorities. 3. The University authority has no jurisdiction to cancel the candidature of a student who was permitted to appear in the examination. 4. A separate test can be conducted for the petitioner to overcome his ineligibility, considering the negligence of the authorities and the potential loss to the petitioner's academic career.
Final Decision: The court directed the college authority to conduct a separate test for the petitioner in the TSB papers where he failed to obtain qualifying marks. If the petitioner obtains the qualifying marks in the separate test, the University authority will publish his result in the 4th Semester. The petitioner will be permitted to appear in the 5th Semester examination subject to satisfying the eligibility criteria and clearing the back paper of the 4th Semester.
Jyotirmay Bhattacharya, J.
This Mandamus Appeal is directed against an order of refusal to grant interim order passed by a learned Single Judge of this Court on 11th November, 2014 in W.P No.29076 (W) of 2014, at the instance of the writ petitioner/appellant.
The writ petitioner’s prayers for allowing him to attend the classes in the 5th Semester of 3rd year Bachelor in Business Administration Course and for publication of his 4th Semester Examination result were not allowed by the learned Single Judge while entertaining the writ petition.
Hence the writ petitioner has come before this Court with this Mandamus Appeal.
While considering the writ petitioner’s/appellant’s prayer for ad interim relief in this appeal, we were invited by the learned Counsel appearing for the parties to decide the writ petition itself. Considering the future academic interest of the writ petitioner/appellant, we heard out the writ petition on merit.
Let us now consider the merit of the writ petition in the facts of the present case. The writ petitioner was admitted in 3rd year (6th Semester) BBA (Honours) Course in JD Birla Institute affiliated to Jadavpur University.
He has successfully completed his studies upto 3rd Semester of the said BBA Course in the said institute. He was allowed to attend the classes in 4th Semester by the college authority.
On the basis of the recommendation made by the college authority, admit card was issued by Jadavpur University permitting the writ petitioner to participate in the 4th Semester Examination of BBA Course. 4th Semester Examination took place from 2nd July, 2014 to 14th July, 2014.
The writ petitioner appeared in the examination in 4th Semester. The college authority promoted him to the next Semester i.e., 5th Semester. He regularly attended the classes of 5th Semester upto 14th September, 2014. Problem started when he was prevented from attending the classes in the 5th semester from 15th September, 2014 and publication of his result in the 4th Semester was withheld by the University authorities.
The writ petitioner was informed that since he failed to obtain the qualifying marks in Tutorial Sessional Briefting (hereinafter referred to as “TSB”), publication of his result was withheld by the University authority and he cannot be permitted to prosecute his studies in the 5th Semester. The aforesaid actions of the University authorities and of the college authorities were challenged by the writ petitioner in the said writ petition.
Let us now consider as to how far the writ petitioner has succeeded in establishing his right either for prosecuting his studies in the 5th Semester or for publication of his result of the 4th Semester Examination.
Let us first of all consider the issue regarding publication of the result of the writ petitioner’s 4th Semester Examination with reference to the Jadavpur University Rules & Regulations. Chapter– 3 of the said regulation deals with examination Rules and Regulations set up for 3 years (6 Semester) BBA (Honours) Course. Bachelor in Business Administration is a three-year course (namely, 1st year, 2nd year and 3rd year), each year comprises of two Semesters 1st and 2nd Semester. Regulation (iii) provides that all examinations in Bachelor of Business Administration shall be held on the compartmental system, that is to say, each student must pass separately in every paper of the different examinations and those who pass in a paper shall not be – permitted to sit for examination in the paper again. Non-appearance in a paper/papers will count as failure in that paper/papers. Each Semester comprises of 8 papers and the maximum marks in each paper is 100 marks. As per Regulation (V), pass marks in all examinations in the Bachelor of Business Administration Course shall be 50% of the maximum marks in each paper.
The following are the course title of 8 papers in the 4th Semester:-
4TH SEMESTER
Course Reference No. Existing Course Title
BBA 401 Operations Management
BBA 402
