ORDER :- Petitioner Anil Kumar Srivastava, wanted to appear at the 1972 M.Sc. Final (Mathematics) Examination conducted by the Allahabad University, which was due to commence on 15th of April, 1972. On 13th of April, 1972 the Registrar of the University informed him that he could not appear in the examination as he had failed in the M.Sc. (Previous) examination held in the year 1971. Being aggrieved by the action of the respondents, the petitioner filed the present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution on 14-4-1972, claiming a writ of Mandamus, commanding the respondents to permit him to appear in the M.Sc. (Final) examination and to declare his result.

2. While admitting the writ petition this Court directed the respondents to allow the petitioner to appear at the 1972 M. Sc. (Final) examination, but made it clear that declaration of petitioner's result would be subject to the ultimate decision in the writ petition. According to the petitioner, he appeared in the M. Sc. (Previous) Mathematics Examination conducted by the University of Allahabad in April/May, 1971 and his roll No. was 229. In due course the result of the M. Sc. (Prev.) examination was pasted on the notice board and was also published in the Northern India Patrika, showing that the petitioner has been successful in the M. Sc. (Prev.) examination. The University also issued a mark-sheet, dated 2nd of July, 1971, to him, showing that he had passed the M. Sc. (Prev.) examination. (Annexure-'A' to the writ petition). Thereafter, the petitioner joined the M. Sc. (Final) classes and attended them regularly. As the mark-sheet issued to him showed that he had received marks much below his expectations in two of the papers, he applied for scrutiny of his answer books of those two papers. In the application for scrutiny. It was specifically mentioned that he had been successful in the examination. On 11th of August, 1971, he was informed that scrutiny of his answer books did not reveal mistake and that his result remained unaltered. In due course, the petitioner made an application for appearing at the 1972 M. Sc. (Final) examination which was due to commence from 15th of April, 1972. When the petitioner went to take his admit card on 12th of April, 1972, he was informed that it had been withheld. He immediately contacted the Assistant Registrar of the University and was told that he could not appear in the M. Sc. (Final) examination as he had failed to pass the M. Sc. (Prev.) examination. The petitioner then approached the Registrar on 13th of April, 1972 who also expressed his inability to permit the petitioner to appear in the M. Sc. (Final) examination on the ground that he had failed to pass the M. Sc. (Prev.) examination. According to the petitioner, he had passed the M. Sc. (Prev.) examination as was evident from the mark-sheet issued to him and the Registrar of the University had no jurisdiction to prevent him from appearing in the 1972 M. Sc. (Final) examination.

3. The petition has been contested on behalf of the University of Allahabad. Stand taken by it is that when the result of 1971 M. Sc. (Prev.) examination in Mathematics was declared, it was shown that petitioner's result had been withheld on account of non-payment of dues and he was not declared to have passed the examination as claimed by him. A mark-sheet was issued to him after he cleared his dues. As a matter of fact the petitioner had failed in the M. Sc. (Prev.) examination as he secured only 170 marks out of 500 marks. However, by mistake, in the mark-sheet issued to the petitioner the marks obtained by another candidate bearing roll No. 230 were mentioned. This mistake was discovered when petitioner's application for appearing in M. Sc. (Final) examination was being scrutinised. As the petitioner had failed in the M. Sc. (Prev.) examination, he could not be permitted to appear in the M. Sc. (Final) examination.

4. At the hearing of the petition, learned counsel appearing for the petitione

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