BHAGATH KRISHNAN B., AGED 20 YEARS, S/O. BABU K., APARTMENT NO.2B, ASSET HOMES FIRST CIRCLE Vs. COCHIN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KOCHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In these cases we hear the anguish and tribulation of the appellant, a young student who has been desperately trying to obtain admission and to protect such admission in studies leading to MBA (Full time) course under the Cochin University. We can ill-afford not to hear the desperation of the appellant and we have no hesitation in immediately recognising that he is entitled to succeed in the appeals even it means that we have to travel an extra yard to grant him the reliefs that, according to us, are legitimately due to him.

(2.) The appellant had initially approached this Court by filing W.P.(C)No.21544/2016 for a direction to the University to admit him to the course leading to the degree of MBA. The learned Single Judge had allowed the writ petition, no doubt, recording exceptional circumstances, by directing that the appellant be granted such admission on condition that he qualifies in all subjects in the graduate examination, namely, B.Com. and that the mark list of all the subjects in the said level be produced before the registration to the first semester examinations of the MBA course. The compendious facts that led the appellant to approach the learned Single Judge are that even though he was ranked high for admission to the MBA course, he had not cleared all the papers at the B.Com. level, which he had pursued in a college affiliated to the Kerala University. He had, therefore, applied for supplementary examination and he was awaiting the results, by which time admission to the MBA course offered by the Cochin University had already commenced. As the appellant had the requisite merit for admission to the MBA course in the qualifying Management Aptitude Test, the learned Single Judge had permitted regularisation of his admission on condition that he produces the mark list of all subjects at the B.Com. level before the registration for first semester MBA examinations. Unfortunate for the appellant, he could not clear one of the papers even at the supplementary examination and consequently, he applied for revaluation before the Kerala University, being obviously confident that he had performed the paper better and deserving more marks than what he had obtained in the supplementary examination. However, since the revaluation was taking time and since the registration for the first semester examinations was drawing near, he filed I.A.No.15968/2016 in W.P.(C) No.21544/2016 seeking extension of time granted in the judgment. The learned Single Judge granted this prayer and extended the time for producing the mark list and provisional degree certificate of B.Com. till 01.11.2016.

(3.) The travails of the appellant did not end there. The revaluation results were not published by the Kerala University even on 01.11.2016 and he was, therefore, faced with the prospect of not being permitted to register for the first semester MBA examinations of the Cochin University. In fact, the University issued a letter dated 27.10.2016 rejecting the application for registration to the first semester MBA examinations on the sole ground that the appellant had not been able to produce the mark list and degree certificate of B.Com. even within the time granted by the Court and extended as per the order in the interlocutory application referred to above.