Delhi High Court
Anupam & Ors. vs University Of Delhi Through Its ... on 19 August, 2020
SINDHU KRISHNAKUMAR
20.08.2020 22:53
$~3
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Date of decision: 19th August, 2020
+ W.P.(C) 3946/2020 & CM APPLs. 14163-65/2020, 14172/2020 &
18998/2020
ANUPAM & ORS. ..... Petitioners
Through: Mr. Akash Sinha, Mr. Shubham Saket
Mr. Indrajeet Singh and Mr. Gaurav
Prakash Shah, Advocates.
Mr. Shivankar Sharma, Advocate for
Intervenors.
versus
UNIVERSITY OF DELHI THROUGH ITS
REGISTRAR & ORS. ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. Sachin Datta, Senior Advocate
with Mr. Mohinder Rupal and Mr.
Hardik Rupal, Advocates for
University of Delhi along with
Professor Vinay Gupta, Dean
(Examination), Dr. Ajay Arora,
Grievance Officer in person.
Mr. Apoorv Kurup & Ms. Nidhi
Mittal, Advocates for R-2/UGC.
Ms. Sunieta Ojha, Advocate for R-
3/UOI.
Professor S. C. Rai, Professor K. S.
Rao, Professor Kavita Sharma, Mr. B.
B. Gupta, Senior Advocate and Mr.
Kamal Gupta, Advocate (Members of
Grievance Redressal Committee).
CORAM:
JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH
Prathiba M. Singh, J.(Oral)
1. This hearing has been done by video conferencing.
2. The matter was listed today upon mentioning made by some members
of the Grievance Redressal Committee (hereinafter, 'GRC') on 18th August
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
By:PRATHIBA M SINGH
Signing Date:20.08.2020 21:55
2020. Members of the GRC, Professor S. C. Rai, Professor K. S. Rao,
Professor Kavita Sharma from University of Delhi (hereinafter, 'DU'), Mr.
B. B. Gupta, ld. Senior Counsel and Mr. Kamal Gupta, ld. counsel have
joined the hearing today. Professor Vinay Gupta, Dean (Examinations) and
the Grievance Officer - Dr. Ajay Arora are also present. Submissions have
been heard on behalf of the members of the GRC and DU as also the
Petitioners.
3. The members of the GRC have placed on record the minutes of the
meetings of the GRC held on 15th August, 2020 and 18th August, 2020. As
per the minutes dated 15th August, 2020, the GRC has, inter alia, resolved as
under:
i. That the GRC shall hold a meeting every day at 7:00 p.m. through
a virtual meeting platform;
ii. The quorum for the meeting shall be three persons;
iii. An email address has been created for the GRC being
[email protected] A detailed chart was requested from the
Grievance Officers of DU to be sent every two days.
iv. All grievances that are rejected or otherwise decided against the
student or that remain unresolved are to be referred to the GRC for
their consideration keeping in mind the interest of students who are
not present before the GRC.
v. The format in which Grievance Officers shall send the information
was finalised.
vi. The Grievance Officers have to send the information in the tabular
format as approved by the GRC by 3:00 p.m. on a daily basis.
vii. The data received by the GRC will be scrutinised and put up for
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
By:PRATHIBA M SINGH
Signing Date:20.08.2020 21:55
discussion in the meeting to be held every day, except on Sundays.
viii. The data received from DU in respect of grievances and their
resolution shall remain protected and secure;
ix. The GRC shall have the discretion to seek the assistance of any
official or member of DU.
x. If DU takes any policy decision applicable to all the students, the
same shall also be informed to the GRC.
xi. One of the members of the GRC has been given the responsibility
of handling the correspondence between the GRC and DU.
4. On 18th August, 2020 another meeting was held where it was agreed
that the coordinator appointed by this Court i.e., Mr. Mohinder J.S. Rupal,
ld. counsel would continue to coordinate with DU. The password of the
GRC's e-mail ID has been shared with all the members so that they have
access to the information received from the Grievance Officers. The
members of the GRC have also created a group for ease of communication.
Apart from the above, the main issue that was noticed was that sufficient
number of persons were not available to assist the sole Grievance Officer as
the number of grievance e-mails received were between 1,000 to 1,200. In
view of the quantum of emails, the Grievance Officer has had difficulty
dealing with the grievances on the one hand and also assisting the GRC on
the other hand.
5. Considering the various issues that have been faced by the Grievance
Officer and the GRC, after hearing all the parties, the following directions
are issued:
i. All emails received from students, raising grievances or complaints,
shall be dealt with by the Grievance Officer - Dr. Ajay Arora and the
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Digitally Signed
By:PRATHIBA M SINGH
Signing Date:20.08.2020 21:55
team, which would work under him.
ii. The number of grievances are stated to be in the range of 1,000-1,200
emails every day, which are mostly in the nature of queries,
clarifications etc., In order to reply to the said grievances/complaints
of the students, it is agreed by Prof. Vinay Gupta that 6 additional
staff members shall be provided by the DU to work under Dr. Ajay
Arora.
iii. The Grievance Officer shall ensure that the replies to each of the
emails of students would be specific in nature and deal with the issue
raised by the students. Standardized and templated replies would not
be sent.
iv. The first reply shall be issued within 48 hours of receipt of the email.
If any cross checking from any department/college/faculty would be
required, the Grievance Officer would have a further period of 48
hours to resolve the issue after cross checking.
v. If the grievance remains unresolved or if the student expresses any
dissatisfaction or the Grievance Officer rejects any request of any
student for any other reason, the reply shall specifically mention that
the student has the option to approach the GRC. The email of the
GRC has already been set up and is [email protected]
vi. All unresolved grievances or complaints of students including those
which are rejected shall be referred to the GRC on a daily basis. The
GRC would, thereafter, deal with the said grievances of the students.
vii. In the last 10 days, whatever grievances have remained
unresolved/rejected - the entire trail of emails relating to the
unresolved/rejected grievances, along with the responses given by the
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By:PRATHIBA M SINGH
Signing Date:20.08.2020 21:55
Grievance Officer, shall be sent to the GRC by 3.00 p.m. tomorrow i.e.,
20th August, 2020.
viii. The GRC has decided to hold meetings every day at 7.00 p.m. The
unresolved and rejected grievances at this point have accumulated to
about 25. The said emails shall be forwarded today itself at 3.00 p.m.
and the GRC will deal with them today when it meets at 7.00 p.m.
ix. On a daily basis, the Grievance Officer would send an email to the entire
Committee giving the number of emails received and the number of
replies sent so that the GRC has a fair assessment of the question as to
whether the grievances are being replied to. The format of the e-mail to
be sent by the Grievance Officer on a daily basis is attached as
Annexure A.
x. Subject to the above modifications, the members of the GRC shall
continue to function in the manner as has been agreed to in their Minutes
dated 15th August, 2020 and 18th August, 2020.
6. Professor Vinay Gupta submits that the answer sheets, which are
being sent by the students which are duplicated on the OBE portal, OBE
email address and the faculty addresses are all being collected, the data is
being checked and the complete answer sheets of the students shall be sent
to the examiners. The process of sending the answer sheets to the examiners,
as per Professor Gupta, is to start from tomorrow i.e., 20th August, 2020. The
same shall be done in a timely manner so as to ensure that evaluation of the
answer sheets takes place expeditiously.
7. List on 28th August, 2020 at 1.00 p.m.
PRATHIBA M. SINGH
JUDGE
AUGUST 19, 2020/dk/A
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
By:PRATHIBA M SINGH
Signing Date:20.08.2020 21:55
ANNEXURE A
DATE: _______
DAILY COMPILATION OF THE GRIEVANCES RECEIVED FROM
THE STUDENTS IN RESPECT OF DU NLINE EXAMINATIONS 2020
BY GRIEVANCE OFFICERS
Total Number of Total Number of Total Number of
Grievances Received Grievances Grievances
Resolved Rejected/Unresolved/Partly
Resolved/Not dealt with
within 48 hours of receipt
Total no. of grievances sent for cross Total no. of grievances
checking resolved within 4 days of
receipt
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
By:PRATHIBA M SINGH
Signing Date:20.08.2020 21:55
