PRAKASH CHANDRA BISWAS Vs. TRIPURA UNIVERSITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner was a candidate for Ph.D. Course Work Examination under the Department of Law, Tripura University. He appeared in the said examination with due permission from the authority, the High Court of Tripura for pursuing the Ph.D. Programme in law on part-time basis. On 19.02.2014 in the course of the examination for Paper-III, the Co-ordinator of the Examination, Prof. Satyadeo Podder entered the hall and made some announcement but the petitioner could not follow the subject of announcement. On his query the Co-ordination repeated the announcement stating that the candidates were required to answer "5 questions" out of "8 questions", even though in the question paper it had been instructed to write answer of "4 questions". At that time the petitioner had pointed out some other mistakes and stated that no sufficient time was left for answering the extra question inasmuch as the examination hour was about to be over within a short while. But without responding to that difficulty, the Co-ordinator left the hall. After sometimes the said Co-ordinator appeared in front of the Examination Hall and started talking loudly. The petitioner along with some other examinees felt disturbed and requested the Co-ordinator to talk in low voice. That irritated the Co-ordinatar. After a few minutes, Dr. Mani Shankar Mishra, Asstt. Professor, Department of History, Tripura University entered the hall and directly came to the petitioner and "snatched away" his answer sheet and the question paper. Thereafter, he left the hall. The petitioner followed Dr. Mani Shankar Mishra and requested him to return the answer sheet but he refused. Then he entered the office of the Co-ordinator. The petitioner asked the Co-ordinator what the reason was for such behavior. Then, both the Co-ordinator and Dr. Mishra shouted at him and threatened to expel from the examination.

(2.) On 21.02.2014 when the petitioner reported in the examination hall for Paper-IV, Dr. Prabin Mishra, Head of the Department, Department of Law informed him that he had been expelled from the Ph.D. Work Examination. Later on, the petitioner came to know that one expulsion notice was issued on 19.2.2014 but he was not served any copy. When the said incident was reported in the newspaper, the High Court of Tripura took further information from the Tripura University and placed the petitioner on suspension by the order dated 20.02.2014, Annexure-3 to the writ petition. On 25.02.2014, the petitioner made a prayer, Annexure-4 to the writ petition, for revoking the expulsion notice, if any, issued on 19.02.2014 by the Co-ordinator of Ph.D. Works for Social Sciences inasmuch as, according to the petitioner, the said expulsion was mala fide and lacked in foundation.

(3.) On 03.04.2014, the Member Secretary and Director, CDC, Tripura University (the respondent No.4) issued a letter to the petitioner, Annexure-5 to the writ petition, directing him to appear before the Discipline Committee of Tripura University on 9.4.2014 at 3 p.m. in connection with the charge against him for breach of conduct and discipline in the Ph.D. Course Work Examination, 2014 held on 19.02.2014.