Unhappy that doctors are being forced to approach Court rather than tackle Coronavirus, on Wednesday, the High Court of Delhi asked Delhi University why it couldn’t go digital for issuing degrees, certificates and marksheets.
“Students, especially doctors providing their services during the pandemic, ought not to have been forced to approach this court for seeking their degree-certificates, especially when they graduated two years ago,” Justice Pratibha M Singh noted while hearing a plea by five MBBS graduates of Lady Hardinge Medical College seeking their certificates two years after their graduation in 2018.
“Most of DU is under lockdown & there is very minimal physical interface between students & the administration. There is no reason as to why DU should not be adopting technically advanced methods to ensure that the students are not inconvenienced,” the court said. No student should have to approach courts for issuance of marksheets, transcripts & degree certificates, which ought to be provided by DU in the natural course within a reasonable time, it added.
“DU ought to take a pragmatic approach in this matter,” Justice Singh said while advising the university to consider “the option of setting up a special cell, which will entertain requests of students on email for digital certificates, marksheets, transcripts etc.” It should also install the software necessary for issuance of degree certificates with security features, to be sent online through email in a timely manner, the Court said, asking the joint director of Delhi University Computer Centre & the dean (examination) to appear virtually on Thursday.
The Court wants to examine the feasibility of setting up such a cell, which will also enable students to have a proper interface with the university during the pandemic.
The petitioners have submitted that they wished to apply for their residency programmes in the US & take the United States Medical Licensing Examination, for which Aug 15 is the last date for uploading the degree certificate. However, despite representations, DU has not indicated any date for issuing the degree certificate.
DU told the Court that it was taking steps to give the tender for printing the certificates swiftly & the deadline for submission of bids was August 1. Bids will open on Aug 3 following which the contract will be signed, it added.
But the court noted that the process was long drawn & would not serve the purpose of students who had deadlines for submission of their documents & posted the plea for further hearing on Thursday. The judge also pointed out that most institutions had made alternative arrangements during the lockdown for issuance of digital certificates, marksheets & ranscripts online, along with digital signatures & security features.
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