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2011 DIGILAW 1021 (CAL)

Pranish Bomzan v. The State of West Bengal

2011-08-02

TAPEN SEN

body2011
Judgment :- Tapen Sen, J. In this Writ Petition, the Petitioners pray for an Order commanding upon the Respondents to declare their results pertaining to Part-I Examinations, 2010 (Honours) and then, to allow them to take part in the Part-II Examinations, 2011 (Honours) after permitting them to fill up necessary forms on payment of requisite fees. 2. According to the Petitioners, they all took admission in Part-I Honours Course in the Darjeeling Government College under the North Bengal University in July 2009 for the session 2009-10. The courses for which they took admission are as follows:- a) Pranish Bomzan (Petitioner No. 1) Chemistry Honours b) Sinora Rai (Petitioner No. 2) Nepali Honours c) Surya Rai (Petitioner No. 3) Physics Honours d) Ronita Mukhia (Petitioner No. 4) Mathematics Honours The Petitioners have relied upon Annexure-P/1 series in support of their contention that each one of them deposited the necessary fees for their respective courses of study. 3. When the Admit cards were issued however, Petitioners were shocked to notice that instead of issuing Honours Admit cards, the University had issued General/Pass Course Admit cards. The anomaly was protested to by the Students’ Union Council and subsequently, those cards were corrected and they were allowed to sit in the Honours examinations. It is their further case that the Petitioners have attended more than 75% of the Honours classes thereby making them eligible to sit in the Honours Part-II Examinations. The Petitioners have relied upon the Receipts of fees paid for their respective Honours courses collectively marked as Annexure-P/2 series. They have also relied upon the Admit cards brought on record between pages 28 to 31 to show that the authorities themselves corrected them by deleting the words “General” and substituting the same by the word “Honours”. 4. When the results of Honours Part-I Examinations were published, the results of these Petitioners were however withheld and upon enquiry, they came to learn that since a Writ Petition filed by similarly situated students of Raiganj College was pending vide W.P. No. 6273 (W) of 2010, their results were not published. However, when an Order was passed on this Writ Petition vide Annexure-P/3 on 5.10.2010 by which the Respondents of that Writ Petition were directed to treat those Writ Petitioners as Honours candidates provided they had the minimum qualifying marks and provided they fulfilled the minimum attendance requirements. However, when an Order was passed on this Writ Petition vide Annexure-P/3 on 5.10.2010 by which the Respondents of that Writ Petition were directed to treat those Writ Petitioners as Honours candidates provided they had the minimum qualifying marks and provided they fulfilled the minimum attendance requirements. However, according to the Petitioners, the benefit of that Order was not extended to the Petitioners although they were similarly situated. On the contrary, they were shown absent in their Honours subjects and were issued Pass course results although they had all appeared in their respective Honours papers. 5. They made several Representations but none of them yielded any results. They have made a grievance that they are being made to suffer although they have attended more than 75% of their respective Part-II Honours Classes and they have not flouted any of the Rules and Regulations framed by the University. 6. It is on the aforementioned set of facts that the Petitioners have approached this Court for an Order indicated at the outset. 7. An Affidavit-in-opposition has been filed on behalf of the Respondent Nos. 3 and 4. In the said Affidavit, it has been stated inter alia that in the “Basic Information Sheet” submitted by the Darjeeling Government College giving names and details of students of the B.A./B.Sc./B. Com Part-I (2009-10) and which was furnished to the University on 11.12.2009, the Petitioners were shown as General candidates and not as Honours candidates. 8. They have further stated that the Computerized Examinations Forms are generated on the basis of the said Basic Information Sheet and hence the forms of all the 4(four) Petitioners were generated on that basis showing them as General Course candidates. A Circular was sent from the Office of the Secretary, under-Graduate Council to all Colleges informing them that as per decision taken on 15.3.2010, no change in subjects/courses would be allowed during filling up of the examination forms and the subject chosen by each students should be strictly adhered to as per the Basic Information Sheet sent to the University. They have also stated that upon scrutiny of the examinations forms, it was revealed that few Colleges had submitted the examination forms of students showing them as Honours students without obtaining any permission and without informing the University although in the Basic Information Sheet, those students had been shown as Pass course/General course candidates. They have also stated that upon scrutiny of the examinations forms, it was revealed that few Colleges had submitted the examination forms of students showing them as Honours students without obtaining any permission and without informing the University although in the Basic Information Sheet, those students had been shown as Pass course/General course candidates. Consequently, a decision was taken on 15.3.2010 by the under-Graduate Council of the University resolving that all students whose names had been shown as general candidates in the Basic Information Sheet will not be allowed to make any conversion to the Honours courses while filling up the examination forms. This decision was then circulated to the Darjeeling Government College and other Colleges and thereafter, Admit cards of the Petitioners were sent, showing them as General course candidates. They have also stated that the Petitioners did not sign on the “Attendance-cum-signature Sheets” for the subjects mentioned in the Basic Information Sheet and they were marked absent in the said Examinations in those subjects. They have also mentioned that upon scrutiny of the documents, it was found that the College had allowed candidates to appear in the examinations as Honours candidates. Since their Roll numbers were in the computer data base showing them as general candidates, the Honours list was not generated for them and it was also difficult to trace their answer scripts and therefore, their results were withheld. Any changes made in the Admit cards by the College was therefore without jurisdiction and illegal. 9. In reply to the aforementioned Affidavit-in-opposition, the Petitioners have reiterated their submissions made in the Writ Petition and therefore it is not necessary for this Court to once again repeat their contentions save and except to say that their statements made in the reply are repetitions of their statements and contentions which have been considered. 10. It is unfortunate that the University has taken such stands which are all opposed to the documents that speak for themselves. In this context, the money receipts brought on record go to show that the Petitioners had all paid money for taking admission in Honours courses. 10. It is unfortunate that the University has taken such stands which are all opposed to the documents that speak for themselves. In this context, the money receipts brought on record go to show that the Petitioners had all paid money for taking admission in Honours courses. In fact, on 28.1.2011(see Page 36 of the Writ Petition), the Principal of the College wrote to the Controller of Examinations wherein he protested to the manner in which the University had functioned in the case of some of the students of the Darjeeling Government College whose results had been withheld. This letter is only illustrative of the slip-shod manner in which the authorities have worked since the Principal says that it is learnt that the undergraduate Council, in a similar situation, had recommended the publication of the corrected results of such candidates who had appeared from the Raiganj University College. Under such circumstances, the Principal said that the College authority “strongly assumes’’ that such recommendation was absolutely against the spirit of earlier resolution taken in Under Graduate Council. The Principal also said that as per our demands similar cases should be given uniform justice and merit. The Principal has also stated that he was left with no option but to take legal recourse to protect the interests of the students of the Darjeeling Government College who had appeared as Honours candidates in the last Part-I examinations of 2010 but the University had declared their results showing them as general candidates. The Principal has further stated that they had earlier communicated this fact to the University with adequate proofs such as merit list, copy of money receipts of Honours admission, attendance records from the date of commencement of the academic session 2009-10, copies of the filled in Registration Forms showing combination of subjects (Honours and General), corrected filled in forms for Part-I Examinations. In that background, the Principal requested the Controller to issue corrected mark sheets showing the marks in the Honours subjects instead of showing these students as absent in Honours papers in the mark sheets issued by the University. This letter of the Principal speaks volumes of the manner in which the authorities of the University have acted in the case of the Petitioners. This letter of the Principal of the College has not been denied. This letter of the Principal speaks volumes of the manner in which the authorities of the University have acted in the case of the Petitioners. This letter of the Principal of the College has not been denied. On the contrary, what has been stated in Para-9 of the Reply is that “save and except what are matters of record and same what will appear there from, I deny and dispute each and every allegations contrary thereto.” This is not an answer to what the Principal stated and which clearly shows that students of Darjeeling Government College who had appeared as Honours candidates in the Part-I Examinations 2010 were unfortunately dealt with when the University declared their Results as General candidates. Merely by saying that the emergent meeting of the Council took a contrary decision cannot be accepted to obliterate the rights of these Petitioners who had taken admission in the Honours courses and whose cases were communicated to the University with adequate proofs as has been stated by the Principal. If somebody from the College commits an error and shows these students as General candidates in the Basic Information Sheet, that by itself is not a ground to nullify and/or obliterate the rights of these students. It is nobody’s case that these students had filled up the Basic Information Sheet. For someone else folly/follies, the Petitioners cannot suffer. 11. Take other documents also. Page 38 of the Writ Petition shows yet another communication made on 25.11.2010 by the Principal to the Controller of Examinations. In that letter, he had given the names of 7 (seven) students including these Petitioners and had told the Controller of Examinations that the results of these candidates who had appeared in the Part-I Examination of 2010, had all been converted from the General course to Honours cause pending permission from the University. In this context, the letter dated 1st February, 2011 brought on record vide Annexure-P/4 is another letter of the Principal of that College which shows that the Principal had requested the University to reconsider its decision and had specifically stated that the College had verified each such case of conversion and were satisfied that such conversions were made as per University norms. 12. 12. It is really unfortunate that in spite of so many letters of the Principal as well as the List of Students of Darjeeling Government College who were allowed conversion from General courses to Honours courses (as would be evident from the letters dated 1.2.2011 sent by the Principal to the Vice- Chancellor ; the letter dated 28.1.2011 sent by the Principal to the Controller of Examinations; the letter dated 25.11.2010 sent by the Principal to the Controller of Examinations; the list of students at page 29 of the Writ Petition and the letter dated June, 2010 sent by the Principal, Darjeeling Government College to the Principal of St. Joseph’s College requesting the latter to allow the Petitioner No. 1 to appear for Chemistry Honours Practical examinations from his College and send the answer scripts to the University), the University of North Bengal has taken such an insensitive and apathetic stand which demolishes the hopefulness of bright future of young boys and girls for no fault on their part. It appears that the Officers of the University have totally tried to evade the specific statement made in their letter of demand/legal notice that each of the Petitioners had taken admission in the Honours courses in the Darjeeling College in 2009 after fulfilling all eligibility criteria after depositing necessary admission fees. While replying to the said letter of demand, at page 54,the University has cleverly evaded to even touch this point. 13. Under the aforementioned facts and circumstances, this Court is satisfied that the action of the University is totally illegal, irrational and arbitrary. The College having allowed the Petitioners conversion and the College having taken admission of these Petitioners for Honours courses, the University cannot withhold their results of their Honours papers of Part-I examinations 2010 without there being any fault on the part of the Petitioners. If the College has committed any mistake, it is for the University to deal with the College in accordance with law but it cannot punish innocent Students like this. Consequently, the Writ Petition is allowed and their prayers made therein are also allowed. No Order as to costs.