AMITA SINGH Vs. UNIVERSITY OF ALLAHABAD AND ANOTHER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Special Appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 15 January 2014 of a learned Judge of this Court by which the writ petition (Writ-C No.1047 of 2014) filed by the appellant for quashing the order dated 26 July 2013 passed by the University of Allahabad (the University) for cancelling the MA IV Semester Examination 2012-13 of the appellant for having used the unauthorised material found in her possession and debarring her for next Examination 2013-14, was dismissed.

(2.) The appellant-petitioner appeared at the Fourth Semester Second Examination of Masters of Art in Hindi in the year 2012. While she was appearing in the Hindi paper on 10 May 2013, she was caught by the Invigilator with two hand written pages in her possession. The appellant was asked to fill the Unfair Means (UFM) Form in which she admitted that the unauthorised material was in her possession and that she had also partially used it. A show cause notice dated 20 May 2013 was, thereafter, issued to the appellant. The appellant submitted a detailed reply dated 29 May 2013 in which she admitted that she had picked up the unauthorised material and it was under some misconception that she had filled the UFM form. The Committee constituted to deal with and decide cases relating to the use of unfair means found as a fact that the candidate had word by word transcribed what was contained in the unauthorised material while answering question no.1 in 'Khand-Ka' at page 1 of the answer book. The Committee also noticed that the candidate had specifically stated that she had lifted the unauthorised material which was lying on the ground near her desk. The Committee also noticed that the candidate had accepted partial use of the chit in the UFM form. It is in such circumstances that the Committee cancelled the MA Fourth Semester Second Examination 2012-13 of the appellant and also debarred her from appearing in the corresponding examination of 2013-14.

(3.) The learned Judge dismissed the petition holding that if the candidate was in possession of the unauthorised material and had also used it while answering the question, then not only the examination in which she was appearing was liable to be cancelled but she could also be debarred from appearing at the next examination.