KRUPASINDHU MALLIK Vs. ORISSA BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner appeared at the Annual High School Certificate Examination of 1979 conducted by the Orissa Board of Secondary Education (hereafter referred to as the 'Board') with Roll No. 29 S 143 as a regular candidate from the M.S. High School, Baramba. He obtained a certificate of transfer from the opposite party No. 2 Headmaster as per Annexure-1 which indicated that petitioner had passed the examination and a mark-sheet (Annexure-2) which showed that he had secured 362 marks in the different subjects as against the minimum requirement of 264 marks. The petitioner alleges that on the basis of the transfer certificate and the mark-sheet, he got himself admitted into the first year class of the College whose Principal is opposite party No. 3. While he was continuing his study in the college, he received a letter from the Headmaster dated 14-3-1980 (Annexure-4) enclosing a corrected mark-sheet (Annexure-5). The letter informed him that the petitioner had failed and the mark-sheet showed that petitioner had obtained total marks of 272 but in view of grossly low marks obtained in different subjects, he had failed. Petitioner in this application seeks to challenge the letter of the Headmaster and the corrected mark-sheet and maintains that he has passed the Board examination as evidenced by Annexures 1 and 2 and his career should not be affected by the subsequent action of the Headmaster.

(2.) Opposite parties Headmaster and Principal have appeared but they have not filed any counter-affidavits. The Board in its return has contended that the petitioner had not passed in the examination and he was never declared as a successful candidate. It has been asserted that the Board never sent a mark-sheet corresponding to Annexure-2 and the genuineness of the mark-sheet issued by the Headmaster has been challenged. Shortly stated, it is said that Annexures-1 and 2 are based upon fraudulent documents and details given therein differ from the actual marks obtained by the petitioner.

(3.) At the hearing of the matter, counsel for the Board has produced the Marks Register maintained in the statutory form B.S.E.-42, from where it is clear that the mark-sheet (Annexure-2) produced by the petitioner is not a genuine one. The particulars in Annexure-2 and in the Register so far as petitioner is concerned are shown in a tabular form below:Subject Full Marks Pass Marks Marks Obtained As shown in As shown in Excess Annexure-2 the register English Paper-I 100 30 35 25 10 English Paper-II 100 30 41 21 20 M. I. L. (O) 100 30 34 24 10 Sanskrit 100 30 41 41 - Mathematics 100 30 53 53 - History Civ. 60 30 22 22 - Geography 40 30 18 08 10 G. Science 100 30 47 47 - Optional E. P. H. 100 30 71 31 40 Total 800 264 362 272 90 Thus it appears that marks in Annexure-2 have been inflated by 90 over and above what petitioner as a fact had secured at the examination. In the register maintained by the Board, petitioner has been shown to have failed. The original answer books have been destroyed after the results were finally published and, therefore, no reference to the primary material is possible at this point of time. According to the Board, what is alleged to have been communicated to the Headmaster on the basis of which Annexures-1 and 2 are said to have been drawn up is not in accordance with the Board's practice as current at the relevant time, as the form that was being sent was of a different colour. It is stated that there is a fraudulent racket in operation which has made the present situation possible.