STATE OF BIHAR Vs. NARASIMHA SUNDRAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard the counsel for the parties. Leave granted.

(2.) A common question arises in these two appeals. It is sufficient to refer to the facts in Civil Appeal No. 1425 of 1993 (arising from SLP (C) No. 13928 of 1992). The respondent appeared for the Higher Secondary Examination held by the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Orissa, in the year 1992. Results were published on 24-6-92. The respondent was declared to have failed. He then filed the Writ Petition in the Orissa High Court for declaring him successful in Second Division in the said examination. The Writ Petition has been allowed by a Division Bench with a direction to the Council of Higher Secondary Education "to apply the Hard Case Rule to the petitioner and publish his result within one month hence."

(3.) The respondent obtained 56 marks in English subject, which is four short of the requisite pass marks. Biology was his extra optional subject. The centre where he appeared was found indulging in certain malpractices in the Biology paper and accordingly the examination in that subject was cancelled from that centre altogether. It was also declared that no re-examination shall be held in that subject and that the results shall be published taking the marks in that subject as zero. The Respondents problem was that he had failed in English subject. He, therefore, wanted a direction to the authorities to award four grace marks in which event he would not only have passed the English subject but would also have passed the examination. The appellants, who are respondents in the Writ Petition, opposed the Writ Petition. They relied upon clause (8) of the Hard Case Rules to deny any relief to the Respondent. Clause (8) reads as follows: "The benefit of the above Hard Case Rules shall not be extended to candidates whose paper/papers of examination have been cancelled for violation of examination rules".