LITUMANJARI PRADHAN Vs. CHAIRMAN, COUNCIL OF HIGHER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This reference arises from an order dtd. 21/11/2022 passed by the Division Bench of this Court. Unable to agree with the conclusion reached by a coordinate Division Bench of this Court in Nrusingha Charan Panda v. The Secretary, Board of Secondary Education, Orissa,74 (1992) CLT 350. the referring Bench has asked this larger Bench to decide whether Nrusingha Charan Panda (supra) has been correctly decided.

(2.) The factual background leading to the present reference is that the Appellant appeared in +2 CHSE examinations in 1996 in the 'Arts Stream'. This comprised the subjects of English, M.I.L (Odiya), History, Optional Odiya (O.O) and Education. The Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE), issued a Mark Sheet showing the awarded marks in individual subjects. The 'Full Marks' for each of the above subjects, except M.I.L. (O), was 200. For M.I.L. (O) the Full Marks was 100. In terms of the governing Regulations of the CHSE, for a student to "Pass" she had to secure 30% of the 'Full Marks' in a particular subject. However, where the subject had both 'theory' and 'practical' papers, the student was required to secure a minimum of 30% of the total marks each in the 'theory' and 'practical' papers in order to be declared 'pass' in the concerned subject.

(3.) The Mark Sheet showed that in 'English', the Appellant had secured 14 marks in "Paper I" and 21 marks in "Paper II", aggregating 35 marks out of 200 (which was less than 30%). Resultantly, she failed in the English subject. In MIL (O) the Appellant secured a total of 36 marks out of 100 and passed in the said subject. In 'History' she secured 44 marks in Paper I and 58 marks in Paper II aggregating to 102 out of 200. Thus, she passed in History. In O.O, she secured 41 marks in Paper I and 35 in Paper II securing a total of 76 out of 200. Thus, she passed in OO as well. However, in 'Education' the Appellant scored 16 marks in Paper I and 26 marks in Paper II aggregating 42 marks out of 150 (less than 30%) and 38 marks out of 50 marks in Practical. As the Appellant had secured less than 30% in Papers I and II, she was declared 'failed' in the subject "Education". Since the Appellant has herself appended a copy of the Mark Sheet as received by her soon after the examination, the question of her not being aware that she failed in both English and Education did not arise.