ARUN POPLAI Vs. PANJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner seeks a mandamus directing the Panjab University to declare his result of the B.A. Part-I Examination held in April, 1990. The petitioner had passed the All India Secondary School Examination held by the Central Board of Secondary Education in the year 1986. He claims to have passed his Intermediate examination from Bombay Hindi University in February, 1988. Copy of the certificate is at Annexure-P.2. He further asserts that he was admitted to Government College for Boys, Sector 11, Chandigarh in B.A. Part-I in the year 1989 and took the examination conducted by the Panjab University in March/April, 1990. The petitioner claims to have been verbally informed that he had got compartment in the said examination, but the University had, according to him, illegally withheld his result. He is aggrieved by the action of the University in withholding his result and claims a writ of mandamus directing the University to immediately declare his result.

(2.) A written statement has been filed on behalf of the University. It is claimed on their behalf that the petitioner had not passed the Intermediate examination from a recognised University and was thus not eligible for admission. The admission form submitted by the petitioner has also been produced. My attention has been drawn to an undertaking given by the petitioner to the effect that he was seeking admission at his own risk. It has also been pointed out that the admission had been granted provisionally "subject to production of equivalence from Panjab University, Chandigarh". In the written statement it has also been averred that the petitioner was not eligible to join B.A. Part-I classes since the examination passed by him had not been recognised as equivalent to the + 2 examination. It is the claim of the University that since the petitioner was wholly ineligible for admission, the action in withholding his result was in strict conformity with the Regulations of the University.

(3.) I have heard Mr. R.C. Chatrath, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. Ashok Aggarwal, learned Senior Advocate for the University. It has been contended on behalf of the petitioner that he had passed the Intermediate examination from the Bombay Hindi University and had been granted admission to the B.A. Part-I classes at the Govt. College, Chandigarh. Once the petitioner had been permitted to take the examination and had also been informed that he had been placed in compartment, the University was bound to declare his result and their action in not doing so was arbitrary and illegal. On the other hand, Mr. Aggarwal has contended with great vehemence that the Bombay Hindi University was not at all a recognised institution. It was merely a "shop" and any certificate given by this University was a wholly illegal document which could not entitle any student to seek admission to B.A. Part-I. He has also placed reliance on the judgment delivered by a Division Bench of this Court in Civil Writ Petition No. 11096 of 1988 decided on 25.1.1989.