Litumanjari Pradhan vs Chairman
2022 Latest Caselaw 6760 Ori

                  IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
                                    WA No.317 of 2019
          Litumanjari Pradhan                         ....            Appellant
                                                      Mr. G.N. Sahu, Advocate

                                           -versus-

          Chairman,   Counsel    of   Higher ....                    Respondents
          Secondary Education, Bhubaneswar &
          Others
                                                                          None

                      CORAM:
                      THE CHIEF JUSTICE
                      JUSTICE M. S. RAMAN

                                          ORDER

21.11.2022 Order No.

02. 1. A judgment reported in Nrusingha Charan Panda v. The Secretary, Board of Secondary Education, Orissa & Another; 74 (1992) CLT 350 which holds that if the Petitioner had no knowledge of his failure in the Annual High School Certificate Examination and subsequently joined Govt. service, and came to know of his failure after a lapse of six years, the rule of estoppel would apply and the Opposite Party No. 1 would be estopped from taking the plea that the Petitioner has, in fact failed.

2. In the considered view of this Court, if it is an undeniable fact, as in the present case, that the Petitioner has failed in one of the subjects i.e. 'Education' in the Annual CHSC Examination 1996, the fact of which he may not have been aware the result failed would not change the fact that she has in fact failed in one subject. The

candidate having failed in one of the papers, it is not possible to issue a mandamus that the authority should issue her an Annual CHSE Examination, 1996 passing certificate.

3. This Court is unable to agree with the above conclusion of a coordinate Bench of this Court. Accordingly, the matter is referred to larger Bench of this Court for considering the question whether the aforementioned decision in Nrusingha Charan Panda v. The Secretary, Board of Secondary Education, Orissa & Another; 74 (1992) CLT 350 has been correctly rendered.

(Dr. S. Muralidhar) Chief Justice

(M. S. Raman) Judge MRS/Laxmikant