Hema Devi v. Jharkhand Academic Council, through its Chairman, Ranchi
2023-03-02
RAJESH SHANKAR
body2023
DigiLaw.ai
JUDGMENT : 1. The present writ petition has been filed for issuance of direction upon the respondents calling upon them to show cause as to under what circumstances, the petitioners’ children, who are the students of the college-respondent No.4, have not been issued Admit Cards so as to enable them to appear in the Annual Intermediate (Arts) Examination, 2023 (Session 2021-23) [hereinafter after referred to as ‘the said examination’] despite the fact that they have successfully completed the course and have also paid the required examination fee. Further prayer has been made for issuance of direction upon the respondents to immediately issue Admit Cards to the petitioners’ children and to allow them to appear in the said examination to be conducted by the Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC), Ranchi. 2. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the petitioners’ children have passed Class-XI Intermediate Examination (Arts) (Session 2021-22) in the aforesaid college, whose descriptions are as under : Sl. No. Name of student/ward Age Represented by Relation 1. Khushboo Kumari 17 years Hema Devi Mother 2. Komal Kumari 17 years Shiv Shankar Mahto Father 3. Ajay Gope 17 years Sulendra Gope Father 3. They also submitted their examination forms along with required fee in the office of the college-respondent No.4 for appearing in Intermediate (Arts) Examination, 2023, however, admit cards have not been issued to them by the respondent-JAC. Under the said compelling circumstance, the petitioners have approached this Court by filing the present writ petition. 4. A counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the respondent Nos. 1 to 3 stating inter alia that online examination forms were invited from the students for appearing in the said examination vide Advertisement No. 67/2022. The date of filing up the examination forms was fixed from 30.09.2022 to 14.10.2022 without late fine and from 15.10.2022 to 19.10.2022 with late fine. The date of online submission of the examination forms was again extended vide till 30.11.2022 without late fine and from 01.12.2022 to 10.12.2022 with late fine. The said date was again extended vide Advertisement No. 79/2022 till 10.12.2022 without late fine and from 11.12.2022 to 20.12.2022 with late fine. The date for the said purpose was further extended vide Advertisement No. 83/2022 till 20.12.2022 without late fine and from 21.12.2022 to 04.01.2023 with late fine.
The said date was again extended vide Advertisement No. 79/2022 till 10.12.2022 without late fine and from 11.12.2022 to 20.12.2022 with late fine. The date for the said purpose was further extended vide Advertisement No. 83/2022 till 20.12.2022 without late fine and from 21.12.2022 to 04.01.2023 with late fine. The details of programme/routine regarding Annual Secondary & Intermediate Examination, 2023 was published in all the newspapers vide Advertisement No. 01/2023. One last chance was provided vide Advertisement No. 04/2023 to all the candidates to rectify their mistakes in any subject they are appearing. Thereafter, Admit Cards for the said examination were issued on 30.01.2023 and the practical examination has already started from 07.02.2023 which will be completed in the respective colleges by 04.03.2023. The theory examination of all the candidates will be conducted from 14.03.2023 to 05.04.2023 at different examination centres. The process of handing over the OMR sheets and plain answer paper sheets of the candidates appearing in the said examination at different centres has been started. Roll sheets and attendance sheets of the candidates appearing in the said examination are also being made available to the examination centres. Centre wise confidential material such as question papers etc. is being sent to all the districts. The petitioners’ children were got registered in Class-XI from the concerned college i.e. respondent No.4 whose registration Nos. are as follows : (i) Khusboo Kumari, Registration No. 11031-RA-0046-2021 (ii) Komal Kumari, Registration No. 11031-RA-0499-2021 (iii) Ajay Gope, Registration No. 11031-RA-0236-2021 5. The examination forms of total 609 students have been submitted by the said college through on line mode and their examination fees have been deposited by the college (the respondent No.4) in the account of the respondent-JAC through Challans which are as under : (i) Challan No. 23403212 for 33 students (ii) Challan No. 23404070 for 22 students (iii) Challan No. 23401667 for 300 students (iv) Challan No. 23404722 for 01 student (v) Challan No. 23401671 for 253 students 6. According to Challan Nos., the examination fees of all the students have been deposited in the account of the respondent-JAC and the consolidated statement of the students with respect to each Challan is also available. 7. It is thus submitted by learned counsel for the respondent Nos.
According to Challan Nos., the examination fees of all the students have been deposited in the account of the respondent-JAC and the consolidated statement of the students with respect to each Challan is also available. 7. It is thus submitted by learned counsel for the respondent Nos. 1 to 3 that due to non-submission of examination forms of the petitioners’ children by the college i.e. the respondent No.4, the admit cards for appearing in the said examination have not been issued to them. Since the preparation for holding the said examination has already been completed, it is now difficult to change the programme. 8. Mr. Prem Pujari Roy, learned counsel for the respondent No.4, on instruction, submits that out of 613 students appearing in the said examination, Admit Cards of 609 students have already been issued, however, due to mistake committed by the concerned computer operator of the college, the examination forms of the petitioners’ children could not be forwarded to the office of the respondent-JAC. Due to the said lapse, appropriate action has been taken against the concerned official of the college as he is responsible for creating this situation. 9. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant materials available on record. 10. Undoubtedly, there is serious lapses on the part of the college-respondent No.4 in not forwarding the examination forms of the petitioners’ children to the respondent-JAC as would be evident from the statements made in the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the respondent Nos. 1 to 3 explaining that the time for forwarding the examination forms were extended from time to time. Despite several extensions granted for the said purpose, the respondent No.4 (the concerned college) failed to forward the examination forms of the petitioners’ children. If at all the computer operator of the respondent No.4 did not forward the examination forms to the respondent-JAC mistakenly, the respondent No.4 had enough time to cross-verify the same and to rectify it within the extended period. 11. Keeping in view the said aspect of the matter, the respondent No.4 is directed to forward the examination forms along with the requisite fee of the petitioners’ children through online mode to the Jharkhand Academic Council, Ranchi immediately.
11. Keeping in view the said aspect of the matter, the respondent No.4 is directed to forward the examination forms along with the requisite fee of the petitioners’ children through online mode to the Jharkhand Academic Council, Ranchi immediately. The Jharkhand Academic Council, Ranchi, in turn, is directed to accept the said examination forms by making appropriate arrangement in the concerned portal and thereafter to issue Admit Cards to the concerned candidates so as to enable them to appear in the ensuing Annual Intermediate (Arts) Examination, 2023. 12. Since the lapse on the part of the respondent No.4 is evident from the aforesaid facts, it shall pay cost of Rs.50,000/- in favour of Karuna, N.M.O, having S.B.I A/c No. 38138972344 (IFS-SBIN0001672 Swift) and file the receipt thereof in the Registry of this Court within ten days from today, failing which the Registry shall place this case before the concerned Bench. 13. The present writ petition is disposed of with the aforesaid directions.