SAMITA DEV SARKAR Vs. UTKAL UNIVERSITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner calls in question the result published by Utkal University declaring her to have failed in Master in Business Administration (M.B.A.) Examination, 1998 having not passed in Paper x practical examination.

(2.) THE short fact of the petitioner's case is that she appeared at the M.B.A. Examination, 1998 from Regional College of Management in the final year of two years course. She had secured more than 55 per cent of marks in aggregate; but has been illegally declared failed, since she had been awarded ten marks in practical examination in Paper X. According to the petitioner, both external as well as internal examiners had communicated to Opp. Parties 1 and 2 that they were not aware, that the required pass mark was 12 and as such they had awarded 10 marks, thinking that to be the pass mark. A further allegation is made that the internal examiners had no experience and/or practice in the concerned subject and as such the marks awarded were not on proper evaluation of the performance of the petitioner or any other examinee.

(3.) SRI J. Rath, learned counsel for the petitioner contends that in view of the letters of the internal examiners in practical papers that, they were under the impression that 33 per cent of marks is the required pass mark, taking theory and practical together, the petitioner, who has secured 10 marks out of 30 full marks, which is 33 per cent of full marks in that paper, she ought to have been declared passed. Contention is also raised that the internal examiners in their letter having clearly stated further that the petitioner and all other students who were awarded 10 marks in Paper X practical, did well in the paper and deserve a pass, the University ought to have reconsidered its decision and declared them pass. In para 6 of the writ petition, it is specifically averred that the 10th paper of the examination is a computer based subject, but both the internal as well as the external examiners for Regional College had no Computer Qualification to their credit so as to assess the practical work of the examinees and to award marks in such papers. Further, both the internal and external examiners appointed by the University were lacking eligibility to function as examiners. Contentions were also raised that the external examiner submitted separate marks, but the Examination Committee, decided to accept the marks awarded by the external examiner as per the approval of the Vice chancellor as a result of which the matter was placed before the Board of Conducting Examiners in its meeting held on 19.9.1998, which, on consideration, accepted the decision, which is not the accepted norms of the University.