SHIVA VIKASH TRIVEDI Vs. ALLAHABAD UNIVERSITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition by Shiva Vikash Trivedi under Article 226 of the Constitution seeks the quashing of an order of the Executive Council of the University of Allahabad cancelling the result of the petitioner's LL.B. (Previous) Examination of 1957 and! debarring him from the Examination of 1958 on the ground of using unfair means in the Examination of 1957.

(2.) It is common ground that the petitioner appeared as an ex-student at the LL.B. (Previous) Examination of the University in 1957, and the Examination was held in April of that year. He was given a seat in the vicinity of a bamboo lattice (tat-tar) in the verandah of the Physics Department. On the 25th April while the Examination was in progress two pieces of paper containing notes on law in his hand writing were found below his Examination desk. The invigilator, Assistant Professor R.S. Gupta, detected them, and after a preliminary questioning recorded the petitioner's replies on a typed sheet of paper. Thereafter, the Executive Council after considering the petitioner's replies aforesaid and the remarks of Mr. Gupta and the Head Invigilator on the incident, held that the petitioner had used unfair means in his Examination and thereupon passed the) order which is now impugned.

(3.) The petitioner's contention is that neither the "University" nor the Vice-Chancellor questioned him on the matter but instead passed the impugned order without giving him a chance of explaining, hence the order has been passed contrary to the rules of natural justice.