DIPA PAL Vs. UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application under Article 226 of the Constitution for an appropriate writ for quashing of an order of cancellation of the petitioner's Bachelor of Arts examination passed by the Vice Chancellor and Syndicate of the University of Calcutta and for direction upon the respondent University to forbear from giving effect to that order. The petitioner was a student of the Murlidhar Girls College at 4, Hindusthan Road, Calcutta. She appeared at the examination for the degree of Bachelor of Arts of the University of Calcutta in 1951 as a non-collegiate student and her roll number in the said examination was Cal. F. N. 368 and her seat for the examination was allotted at the said Murlidhar College premises. The case of the petitioner is that she was satisfied with her answers to the questions on which she was examined in the said examination and had reason to believe that she would come out successful, but when the results of the examination were published the petitioner was surprised to find that her name was not included in the list of the successful candidates that was published by the respondent University. The petitioner thereupon made enquiry from the Principal of the Murlidhar College and she came to know that she was reported against to the University Authorities for having adopted unfair means at the said examination. It is alleged that the petitioner does not remember any incident during the examination that might justify anybody to suspect malpractice on her part and neither any Invigilator nor any other person in charge of the examination detected the adoption of any unfair means on the part of the petitioner during the examination. It appears that by a letter dated the 7th June 1951 the Examiner in Philosophy paper No. 1 reported to the Chairman of the Board of Examination in philosophy that he was convinced that two groups of candidates had indulged in foul play and among them was the petitioner. The Chairman of the Board of Examiners forwarded the said letter to the Controller of Examinations on the 20th July 1951 and in forwarding the letter the said Chairman expressed the view that his suspicion in the matter was also very strong. The Examination Board held a meeting on the 23rd July 1951 and appointed by a resolution a sub-committee to consider the cases of candidates who had been reported to have adopted unfair means at the B. A. & B. Sc. examinations 1951. This resolution was confirmed by the Syndicate on the 28th July 1951. The members of the said sub-committee were Dr. Srikumar Banerjee, Principal A. K. Sen and Principal P. K. Guha. Dr. Banerjee and Mr. Sen were members of the Board of Examiners but Mr. Guha was not a member of the Examination Board. It appears that this sub-committee is known as the Malpractices Committee and it enquires into all kinds of malpractices committed by candidates . at the examination hall and it considers all cases reported to it and after due deliberation decides whether there has in fact been any malpractice in any particular case. On 10-8-1951 the Board of Examiners considered and accepted by a resolution the statement of results of the B. A. examination as prepared by the tabulators. On 11-8-1951 the Syndicate confirmed the said resolution and directed the publication of the results and the results were accordingly published on the same date. But the results of the candidates reported against were withheld from publication. On the 20-8-1951 the Principal of the Murlidhar College addressed a letter to the Controller of Examinations in which he pointed out that he had known the petitioner and another candidate whose roll number was Cal. F. 677 for some years and that the past conduct and career of the petitioner was such that he could never think that the petitioner could deliberately deviate from the path of rectitude and it was unbelievable that she would adopt any unfair means at the examination. By a letter dated the 31st August 1951 the said Principal was invited to attend a meeting of the Malpractices Committee and it appears that the Principal did attend on the 4th September 1951 and made representations to the effect that the petitioner was a good student and that some other students must have copied from her answer paper. After considering these representations the Malpractices Committee at the said meeting of the 4th September 1951 decided to cancel the examination of the petitioner. On 5-9-1951, the petitioner caused her maternal uncle to write a letter to the Registrar of the Calcutta University in which it was requested that a personal hearing might be given to the petitioner to explain her conduct before any decision might be arrived at by the University Authorities in relation to the charge of her adopting unfair means at the examination. It appears however, that no such hearing was ever granted to the petitioner. The Principal of the Murlidhar College on 7-9-1951 also addressed a personal letter to the Vice-Chancellor in which the Principal set out his view as to how foul play had taken place in the examination and he further pointed out that his own conviction was that the petitioner was incapable of adopting any unfair means and in fact did not adopt any such means or connived at such unfair means being adopted by anybody else. This letter of the Principal was acknowledged by the Personal Assistant of the Vice-Chancellor by a letter dated the 8th September 1951 in which assurances were given that the Vice-Chancellor would personally look into the matter. Thereafter, the Vice-Chancellor reconsidered the matter in consultation with two members of the Malpractices Committee, who were immediately available, and after careful scrutiny of the answer papers and after reconsideration the following final decision was arrived at:

(2.) This decision or finding appears to have been arrived at on 10-9-1951. Thereafter the Vice-Chancellor himself scrutinised the answer papers and accepted the said decision reached by the Malpractices Committee. On 10-9-1951 the Registrar wrote to the Principal of the Murlidhar College communicating the decision of the Vice-Chancellor. The said proceedings before the Malpractices Committee and the Vice-chancellor were thereafter forwarded to the Syndicate and were confirmed by the Syndicate on the 22-9-1951 and the Additional Controller communicated the order of the Vice-Chancellor and the Syndicate to the Principal on that date. As the petitioner appeared as a non-collegiate student, a letter dated 1st October 1951 was addressed to her by the Additional Controller of Examination, in accordance with the usual practice, communicating to her the said decision about cancellation of the examination. It is alleged in the petition that this letter was received by the petitioner on the 12-11-1951.

(3.) The Act of Incorporation of the University of Calcutta (Act II of 1857) in its preamble states that the University was being established for the better encouragement of Her Majesty's subjects in the pursuit of a regular and literal course of education and. the function of the University is to ascertain by means of examination, the persons who have acquired proficiency in different branches of literature, Science and Arts and of rewarding them by Academical Degrees as evidence of their respective attainments, and marks of honour proportioned thereunto. Thus, one of the most important functions of the University, is to hold examinations and decide the fates of candidates at such examinations. At the conclusion of every examination, the Examiners declare the name of every candidate whom they shall have deemed entitled to any of the degrees and his proficiency in relation to other candidates (Sec. 14 of Act II of 1857).