The main legal point established is that a university has a duty to provide revaluation marks within the prescribed time, and negligence in discharging this duty can lead to liability for compensation.

Sukumaran, J.

Sandhya P. Pai is a heroine in her own right. She sought. but in vain. justice from the University of Kerala. She then fought and got it from the court of law. The University appeals. It attacks the judgment individually; it projects a greater grievance. about an unbearable burden. which it will have to bear. if every student nursing a grievance rushes to the court. particularly having regard to the multitudinous number of the students it is serving at every moment.

2. The appeal is thus important. The questions are of a general character. The problems touched up on are perennial in nature. Minute attention to every aspect arising in appeal is particularly called for in these

circumstances.

3. We shall now set out the background in which the litigation was launched.

4. Sandhya had an illustrious educational career. There was no hitch till she reached the graduate course. It is now clear that she was toiling upward in the night. when her companions slept. She had. apart from her educational excellence. commentable confidence in her performance. She appeared for her graduate examination. scheduled in June. 1982. (The June examination is supposed to be what in older minds is associated with the concept of the April examinations. It is a sad and disgraceful feature of current times that some of the Universities do not have a sense of shame in holding even in November examinations which should have been held in early April. No one has complained about that grievance so far. The question about the accountability of a State instrumentality in relation to a callous destruction of life and its opportunities. may possibly arise in the not too distant future. The courts will have to deal with the problem at that time).

5. The results of the examination were duly declared. She had the shock of her life when the results disclosed that she did not secure a pass in that examination. In the subsidiary subject of World History. she was adjudged as having obtained marks much below the prescribed minimum.

6. The incident. exteriorly distressing and disappointing to a studious soul. planning her future in well thought outlines. would have ordinarily frustrated a young student of that age. She was. however. resourceful to tide over that crisis. The Principal of her college knew her well and had appreciative information about her scholastic career. Her request to permit her to sit in the M.A. class and pursue her studies. in the expectation that the revaluation of her marks for which she had applied. was readily acceded to. Subsequent events would vindicate her request and the Principal's permission. The revaluation has to be done under the binding provisions in force in the University. within a period of 45 days. She could therefore reasonably expect a final verdict of her performance in the examination within a comparatively short time. She had. however. to face. continuously and for long. an agonizing situation. The University and its officials were fiddling. when her heart was burning. She made a pathetic appeal at the culmination of the current academic year. to permit her to write for the M.A. previous examination. so that she may not suffer irretrievably. in her studies. The University was then firm in its inflexible adhesion to the rules. She had not passed the graduate examination. She could not be permitted under the rules to write the M.A. previous examination. Such was the curt reply which the University sent. on 4-3-1983 evidenced by Ext. A16. She had earlier done whatever she was obliged to do under the provisions prescribing the method of revaluation. The request for revaluation. as noted earlier. had been sent as early as on 7-10-1982. The revaluation fee had been remitted. The Micawberian optimism she was cherishing in her mind. at last was cruelly blasted by the heartless acts of the University and its officials. She swears. and we are inclined to accept her testimony. that it was an excruciating agony for her.