Ordinance 28-A does not require candidates to pass every paper at the first available opportunity.

( 1 ) ACCORDING to the respondents, despite Ordinance 28-A having been framed, the marks secured by a candidate in an examination, which he had repeated continued to be taken into consideration for the purposes of determining his eligibility for the award of Prizes or Medals, provided that the candidate had passed the course within the minimum span period prescribed. It is contended, that it is only in the year 1980-81 that the matter was investigated in detail and legal opinion was obtained. The legal opinion given to the University was that, on a correct interpretation of the said Ordinance, a candidate absenting himself from an exam. in a paper was to be treated on the same footing as the candidate who failed to pass a paper, and if the latter became ineligible for the award on account of his not having passed the exam. in the normal course within the minimum span prescribed, then there was no reason why the disqualification should not apply equally to a candidate who had absented him- self from the exam. in a paper. According to the respondents, similar would be a case where a candidate repeats the paper in a subsequent semester. According to the respondents, in all such cases with regard to the said paper, for the purposes of deciding as to whether that candidate is entitled to an award of Prize or a Medal, the marks obtained by that candidate in that paper would be taken as zero.

( 2 ) MR. Shanti Bhushan, the learned counsel for the petitioner, contended that the interpretation sought to be placed by the University was clearly unwarranted. According to him, the words of the Ordinance do not postulate the candidate being required to pass every paper at the first available opportunity ; if a candidate obtains the highest marks in the minimum span which is relatable to the exam. , namely, two years in the case of M. A. , then that candidate would be entitled to get the medals/prizes irrespective of the fact as to whether he had repeated any paper or not. Mr. Mridul, the learned counsel for the respondent-University, on the other hand, reiterated the stand of the University, the moment a student does not appear in a paper or fails in it or repeats that paper then, for the purposes of Ordinance 28-A, that student must be regarded as getting zero marks, notwithstanding the fact that. the student may have completed his course of study within the stipulated period of two years.

( 3 ) from the above it is clear that the only issue which arises for consideration is as to what is the correct interpretation of Ordinance 28-A. It is not disputed that if the marks obtained by the petitioner in paper X, which she had to take in the 3rd semester, are taken into consideration then she would be entitled to the aforesaid five prizes/medals as, admittedly, she has obtained 5. 70 average grade points and has gradation o . (Outstanding)

( 4 ) UNDER Ordinance 28 different prizes/ medals are to be awarded. These five prizes/ medals, with which we are conceined in this petition, have been set-up by virtue of endowments/trusts. The medals/prizes are to be awarded to those candidates who obtain the highest percentage of marks in the M. A. exam. provided the candidate obtains a first division. The terms of the awards, as set-out in the said Ordinance, do not contemplate medals/ prizes being given to candidates who do not obtain the highest percentage of marks.

( 5 ) IT is in the aforesaid background that Ordinance 28-A has to be interpreted. If the interpretation sought to be placed by the University is to be accepted then the effect of that would be that candidates who have not secured highest percentage of marks would be given the ditferent awards. In the present case, respondents 3 to 5 have, in the M. A. or M. Sc. exam. , got lesser percentage of marks than the petitioner. Nevertheless, the University is proposing to give awards to respondents 3 to 5 and not to the petitioner. Giving all these awards to respondents 3 to 5, in prefe