Punjab-Haryana High Court
Gourav Kumar Sinha vs Panjab University Chandigarh And ... on 23 November, 2022
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
AT CHANDIGARH
Sr. No.115+227 CM No.18578-CWP-2022 in/and
Civil Writ Petition No.4748 of 2022
Date of Decision : November 23, 2022
Gourav Kumar Sinha ...Petitioner
Versus
Panjab University, Chandigarh & another ...Respondents
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHIR MITTAL
Present: Mr. Bhupinder Kumar Gupta, Advocate, for the petitioner.
Mr. Indresh Goel, Advocate for the respondents.
*****
SUDHIR MITTAL, J. (ORAL)
CM-18578-CWP-2022
This application has been filed for placing on record Annexures
P-12 & P-13.
For the reasons stated in the application, the same is allowed.
Annexures aforementioned are taken on record.
CWP-4748-2022
The petitioner took admission in the Bachelor of Engineering
(Mechanical) Course in the University Institute of Engineering and
Technology (respondent No.2) in August, 2018 after clearing the JEE Mains
Examination conducted in the same year. Being a student belonging to the
Economically Weaker Section, the State of Bihar is financing his education
w.e.f. February, 2019. The course is a four-year course comprising 08
semesters. First semester examination was held in December, 2019 but the
petitioner could appear in only two out of six subjects being short of
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lecturers in the remaining four. A similar situation existed at the time of the
second semester examination held in June, 2019. Out of a total of five
subjects, the petitioner could appear only in two as he was short of lecturers
in the remaining three. Thereafter, according to the petitioner, a
communication dated 30.08.2019 was circulated by the respondent-
University providing a special chance to students under the semester system
of all Under-Graduate and Post-Graduate courses to clear only one reappear
paper/subject in the whole course. Allegedly, the petitioner applied for the
special chance to take the examination in the subjects of the first semester in
which he could not appear earlier. Due to a clerical mistake, it was marked
as 'reappear' form and the petitioner acquired knowledge of the same at the
time of the examination because the subjects for which he had to appear
were not reflected in the examination schedule. Thus, a representation
dated 06.11.2019 was submitted but the error was not corrected. As the
petitioner had not cleared the first year examination, he was not promoted to
the second year and was not permitted to take the third semester
examination which was held in December, 2019. After almost two years, he
submitted a representation dated 08.10.2021 requesting for promotion to the
second year being a student belonging to Economically Weaker Section of
society. No action having been taken another representation dated
26.10.2021 was submitted stating therein that he had met with an accident
in January, 2020 because of which he was confined to bed for two months
whereafter the Pandemic started but to no avail. It has been averred that
thereafter, he passed the 3rd, 5th and 6th semester examinations but result
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was not declared nor was he promoted to the second year. The same being
improper, request was made to look into the matter sympathetically. Vide
communication dated 10.01.2022, the petitioner was informed that he was
not eligible to be promoted to the 3rd semester as he had less than 50%
credits in the first year. This communication is under challenge in the writ
petition. A related prayer has also been made to allow the petitioner to
appear in the special chance/re-appear examinations to be conducted.
Detailed written statement on behalf of the second respondent
has been filed in which it has been specifically averred that the petitioner
has not attended any class after the second semester nor has he taken any
examination thereafter. This is proved by communication dated 04.04.2022
(Annexure R-4) sent by the examination branch. The averment regarding
the petitioner having passed 3rd, 5th& 6th semester examinations is denied
and is stated to be false. Regarding the special chance, it has been
submitted that the same can be provided only for one examination and only
once in the entire career of a student. The same is provided if a student is
unable to clear one paper even after availing four chances permissible under
the Rules. The petitioner has never attempted to sit for the re-appear
examination and thus, his case is not covered under the special chance
scheme.
In the rejoinder filed by the petitioner, the submission that he
has neither attended classes after the second semester nor has taken any
examination is stated to be incorrect and false. To support this assertion
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attendance sheet of the 6th semester examination has been annexed as
Annexure P-10. Also a certificate issued by the Deputy Registrar of
respondent No.2 has been annexed as Annexure P-11. Apart from the same
certain screen shots have been annexed collectively as Annexure P-9.
The case of the petitioner is that he has failed in certain subjects
in the first year and has cleared all examinations thereafter, whereas, the
case of the second respondent is that after the first year, he has neither
attended classes nor has taken any examination. To prove his case, the
petitioner has referred to the screen shots annexed as Annexure P-9
collectively, attendance sheet (Annexure P-10) and certificate (Annexure P-
11), whereas the second respondent has placed on record official
communication wherein it has been mentioned that the petitioner has not
even attended classes after the first year. Which of them is to be relied
upon? In my considered opinion, the record produced by the second
respondent has to be accepted. The respondent No.2-institution is a well-
known institution and there is no reason for it to submit a false record
pertaining to the petitioner. No mala fides have been alleged and none
exist. The official record must prevail over proofs sought to be relied upon
by the petitioner. The said proofs are not verified documents. The
attendance sheet (Annexure P-10) pertains only to the 6th semester
examination and the certificate (Annexure P-11) only shows that the
petitioner was a bona fide student having deposited four instalments of the
fee. Such a certificate could have been obtained by anyone. The screen
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shots (Annexure P-9) may to some extent show that the petitioner sat in the
6th semester examination but he has not produced any official proof of
issuance of roll number and admit card by the second respondent. Thus,
they by themselves do not prove anything. A student can always submit an
application for an online examination and the same may be accepted without
proper verification. The student may thus appear for the examination
without him being entitled to do so. In that sense, technology can be quite
misleading. Even if the screen shots are accepted, they would only establish
that the petitioner appeared in the 6th semester examination held in May-
June, 2021. There is still no proof of him taking and clearing the 3rd, 5th&
6th semester examinations, 4th semester examination having not been
conducted on account of Covid-19 pandemic.
Reliance by learned counsel for the petitioner on judgment
dated 16.06.2020 passed in WP(C) No.1994 of 2018 and other connected
cases titled as Alisha Gupta vs. Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha
University and another is misplaced. The facts of the said case are totally
distinguishable. In the said case, the petitioner was short of lecturers in the
5th semester but was permitted to take the examination. All subsequent
examinations were also taken by her and thus, cancellation of the result of
the 5th semester was challenged. On an interpretation of the statute, it was
held that the said order was illegal and a direction was given to permit the
petitioner to attend extra classes to make up for the shortage of lecturers in
the 5th semester. This judgment cannot help the petitioner in any manner.
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No rule has been cited in support of the case of promotion to
the second year without passing the first year and a period of four years
passing since then. Thus, the petitioner is not entitled to any relief.
The writ petition has no merit and is dismissed.
November 23, 2022 (SUDHIR MITTAL)
Ankur JUDGE
Whether speaking/reasoned Yes
Whether Reportable Yes
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