SANDEEP SINGH Vs. UNIVERSITY OF MYSORE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) this is a group of writ petitions which have been filed against orders passed by the mysore university pursuant to certain charges levelled against the petitioners. The university authorities had contended that in the course of the m.b.b.s. examination held in january, 1992, that the petitioners had committed certain malpractices which basically consisted of a charge that certain answer books had been substituted. It was alleged against the petitioners that the answer books in question did not pertain to the ones that had been distributed for that particular examination and it is the case of the authorities that those answer books had somehow been obtained from outside and answers written on them and that they had thereafter been fastened on to the original answer books. Despite on investigation, it was not possible for the university to exactly find out how malpractice had occurred and the only evidence available was from certain intrinsic circumstances which I shall have an occasion to deal with such as the fact that the paper in relation to the answer books was different from the original one; the thread that was used for stitching was different and there were certain marks on the original books indicating that stitching that had once been done was removed and that they had been restitched. The authorities had passed certain earlier orders which came to be set aside by this court, pursuant to which an enquiry was once again conducted against these twenty petitioners and the Order came to be passed pursuant to the report of the malpractice enquiry committee dated 5-1-1995 whereunder the results of the paper in question were invalidated and the students were permitted to appear for the next ensuing examination. Though the university had taken a very serious view of what happened, the authorities took note of the fact that the incident pertains to the year 1992 and for a variety of reasons the Order had been passed in the year 1995 by which time many things had changed and university therefore accepted the position that it would not be appropriate to debar the students from any subsequent examinations. The Order in question has been challenged through this batch of writ petitions on a variety of grounds which I shall deal with because the petitioners contend that the findings are unjustified and the second contention is that without prejudice to the aforesaid submission, even if the findings are justified that no action is warranted because of the long lapse of time.

(2.) on behalf of the university authorities, the contention is that this is basically a case of circumstantial evidence and in their defence, they have pointed out that these are professional examinations and that the court must view them with a degree of undue rigorousness. Having regard to the age of the students and the fact that this was the m.b.b.s. exam, the authorities have also contended that there are limits with regard to how far investigative processes can go, but if from the material that is available, it is possible to demonstrate that there is unimpeachable evidence to conclusively establish that the answer books had been substituted or tampered with, then the persons responsible for it can be none other than the students concerned. It is submitted that the university having taken the most lenient or best charitable view possible, this court should not interfere with the decision. I need to record here that the learned counsel representing university took the trouble of ensuring that his officers remain present in court; that all the answer books in question were shown to the court and he has also shown these to the learned advocates representing the petitioners, who desired to take inspection of these records.

(3.) petitioners learned advocates have initially challenged the jurisdiction of the mysore university authorities as far as the passing of any orders against them are concerned. Reliance is sought to be placed on Section 62 of the Karnataka state universities Act, 1976 and the petitioners learned Advocate has submitted that all the petitioners were doing their m.b.b.s. course at a college in davanagere which in turn comes under the kuvempu university. They pointed out that for certain reasons namely, the fact that at that point of time the kuvempu university was not equipped to take these examinations; that the same were held by the mysore university and that if the authority conducting the examinations is mysore university, it would not give that university the jurisdiction to pass any disciplinary orders concerning the petitioners. Reliance is sought to be placed on the wording of Section 62, whereunder, in respect of all such disciplinary action whether it is within the college or in relation to the conduct of examinations or otherwise the authority to take action vest in either the vice-chancellor, the syndicate or the principal. Learned advocates submit that it is open only to the authorities of the university to which the petitioners belong, to take action against them if at all it is so warranted. They therefore submitted that this court should strike down the entire proceedings as being non est insofar as the authorities of the mysore university have no jurisdiction to institute disciplinary proceedings or pass any such orders against the petitioners. The petitioners learned advocates have tried to emphasise the fact that as far as Section 62 is concerned, the entire wording of the Section proceeds on the footing that the powers are vested under the various authorities of "the" university which they submit can only be construed as kuvempu university and no other. In reply, the university counsel has pointed out to me that Section 74(3) of the very ACT has made a special provision for holding of examination, etc., by the mysore university in respect of students who originally belonged to that university or in respect of such areas as have come under kuvempu university for such period of time as it becomes necessary for the kuvempu university to make arrangements to take over. He has also produced a copy of the memorandum of understanding between the two bodies and he submits that it is by virtue of this provision, for the purpose of holding examinations, that the mysore university virtually steps into the shoes of kuvempu university. The second submission is that insofar as the examinations were conducted by the authorities of the mysore university that it is they alone who have the power to take all action that may emanate in relation to its examination such as, evaluation, punishment for malpractices, etc.