AMIYA KUMAR SWAIN Vs. PRINCIPALREGIONAL ENGINEERING COLLEGEROURKELA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner was admitted as a student of Regional Engineering College, Rourkela (hereinafter mentioned as 'R. E. College') in Aug., 1973. He passed the Preliminary Science (Engineering) Examination and I. Sc. (Engineering) Examination of Sambalpur University and joined the 1st Semester of the B. Sc. Engineering course. While he was studying in the 7th Semester in 1976-77, he received the order dated 18-8-1976 (Annexure 2) of the Principal, R. E. College wherein it was mentioned :

(2.) In the counter-affidavit and additional counter-affidavit, O. P. No. 1, the Principal of R. E. College, Rourkela, has taken the stand that the petitioner has got admission into the college on the basis of the mark sheets which were manipulated. Even the mark-list that the petitioner secured from the Utkal University in his P. U. (Sc.) Examination of the year 1970-71 has been manipulated and there had been deliberate suppression of certain material facts when the application was made before the Rourkela Engineering College. By the time of admission of the petitioner, O. P. No. 1 had no material before him to doubt the veracity of the petitioner's documents which were filed along with the application and it was found out later that the marks in both the application form and the original mark-list had been tampered with and manipulated to suit the needs of the moment of the petitioner for the sake of admission. In reply to the allegation that he did not follow the principle of natural justice, O. P. No. 1 averred that the petitioner was called upon by letter No. Aca/8868, D/- 6-8-76 (Annex-F) to produce Matriculation pass certificate, P. U. Sc. pass certificate and mark-sheet, and P. P. pass certificate and mark-sheet in original before the Deputy Registrar on 7-8-76 in order to conduct an enquiry and hear the petitioner's explanation to the charges made against him. In response to the above letter the petitioner produced the provisional certificates of P. P. and Matriculation Examinations and prayed for one week's time (vide Annexure-A) to produce the rest on the ground that those were at his home at a distance of 595 Kms. from Rourkela. Time was allowed to him till 14-8-76, but as he did not turn up, after due consideration of the merits of the case it was found out that he had obtained admission into the college illegally and fraudulently and as such his admission was cancelled. According to O. P. No. 1 though the admission has been cancelled almost four years after his admission into the college, this was not due to inefficiency or negligence of any of the officers connected with the rigors of admission of the college. By a confidential letter dated 14-7-76 (Annexure-B) from a person who had signed under the designation of an Intelligence Officer, when the petitioner was in the 7th Semester of Civil Engineering, the peculiar nature of the case was brought out. It was intimated that the petitioner had been admitted into the 1st year class on the basis of a mark-list produced by him which was a forged or tampered one. It was mentioned therein that the petitioner bearing roll No. 2733 in the Annual P. U. Sc. Examination, 1971 had passed in 3rd division with marks aggregating to 291 without Mathematics from the S. V. M. College, Jagat singhpur and has passed the P. P. Sc. Examination from the O. U. A. T. Bhubane-swar with 'B'. grade marks. The letter contained a request for verification of documents with proper reference to Mark Registers of the Utkal University. After receiving the letter information was called for from the Registrar, Utkal University by a letter dated 21-7-76 (Annexure-C) seeking to know the marks actually secured by the petitioner in his P. U. Sc, Examination with the proper check up from the original marks register in the University Office. The Assistant Controller of Examinations of Utkal University by a letter dated 20-8-76 (Annex-ure-D) informed the Registrar of the Rour-kela Engineering College that the petitioner had secured 291 marks out of a maximum of 700 and Mathematics was his fourth optional and not a subject of his regular study. From Ext. D it was evident that he had failed in Mathematics by securing only 16 marks. It was also ascertained from the Registrar, O. U. A. T., Bhubaneswar (vide Annexure-E) where the petitioner was admitted to the P. P. Class during the session 1972-73, that his P. P. results had been cancelled as he was admitted to the College by producing a false mark-sheet. O. P. No. 1 further averred that in view of the above documents the petitioner was not eligible for admission into the Engineering College. He further stated that there would be severe breach of discipline in the college curriculum if such things are allowed to escape unnoticed or negligently and overlooked. It is the duty of the authorities when such a case comes to their notice to deal with it in as strict and legal manner as the circumstances would justify. In this particular case the action taken against the petitioner was absolutely justified under the circumstances after giving due consideration to his case and it was in keeping with the principle of natural justice, equity and fair play. The petitioner was given every opportunity to explain his point of view as would be evident from Annexure F, but he applied for time and failed to show cause or explain his conduct. So the authorities had no other alternative than to issue Annexure 2 cancelling the admission of the petitioner. It has been further submitted that there has been no contravention of the Act and Statute of Sambalpur University.

(3.) O. P. No. 2, the Registrar of the O. U. A. T., has filed his counter-affidavit and has taken the ground that the writ application is liable to be dismissed in the absence of the Utkal University as a party since the decision taken against the petitioner is based upon his forging the mark-sheet issued by the Utkal University as has been reported by them to this University. It is also mentioned in the counter that there was an enquiry made by the Central Intelligence Bureau into the matter, as has already been stated in the counter of O. P. No. 1. After receipt of the confidential letter reference was made to the Utkal University (vide Annex. A/2). The Registrar of Utkal University, in reply to the above reference, stated (vide Annexure B/2) that the petitioner has submitted a false mark-sheet regarding his Pre-University Examination results. In the attested copy of the mark-sheet submitted to O. P. No. 2, the marks were highly inflated so as to show him to have passed in the first division though actually he had passed in the third division. A reference was also made to the Principal, S. V. M. College, Jagatsinghpur and his reply in Annexure C/2. From Annexures A/2, B/2 and C/2 it would be seen that the petitioner had deliberately made a false statement in the application for admission to the college. The copy of the application is Annexure D/2. The mark-sheet annexed by the petitioner to this writ petition is a forged mark-sheet and not the correct one. Since the petitioner had submitted a false mark-sheet of the P. U. Examination, his admission to the P. P. Class would not have been possible in accordance with the Pre-Professional Regulations framed by Regulation No. 77 of Chapter VII which is as follows :-