GEETA DEVI Vs. KURUSKEHTRA UNIVERSITY, KURUKSHETRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CHALLENGE in the present writ petition is to the order dated 16.8.2013 (Annexure P/5) whereby the University has cancelled the admission of the petitioner in the course of M.Sc. (Computer Science) on the ground that candidate does not fulfill the eligibility conditions laid down in the Ordinance/Equivalence Book provided by the Academic Branch of the concerned class course as B.Sc.(Information Technology) done by the petitioner from Punjab Technical University in the year 2011 was under lateral entry and it could not be considered equivalent to the corresponding degree of Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra.

(2.) THE pleaded case of the petitioner is that she qualified her matriculation examination in the year 2005 from the Board of School Education Haryana and thereafter qualified the entrance examination conducted by the Haryana State Board of Technical Education. She took admission in three years' diploma course of instruction in Computer Engineering at Government Polytechnic, Nilokheri and got first division in the said course in May/June, 2008. Thereafter, she took admission in Bachelor of Science (I.T.) from the Punjab Technical University through lateral entry in the year 2009 which was one of the prescribed mode of admission as per Prospectus, 2009 and was directly admitted in the second year of the said course as per eligibility condition of the Prospectus. After completion of the said course, she took admission in M.Sc. (Computer Science) (hereafter referred to as "the course") in the year 2012 in Guru Nanak Khalsa College, Karnal which is affiliated with the respondent -University. The eligibility criteria in the Prospectus for the year 2012 -13 of the respondent -College provided that person who secured 50% marks in aggregate in B.Sc. (Information Technology) could take admission and there was no mention that students who had completed B.Sc.(Information Technology) by way of lateral entry were barred from pursuing the course. In pursuance of admission in the course, she appeared in Semester examinations conducted in December/January, 2012 and May -June, 2013 and her result was withheld and thereafter her admission was cancelled vide impugned order dated 16.8.2013 (Annexure P/5). On seeking Information under the Right to Information Act, 2005 she was informed that it was due to having done the bachelor degree course by way of lateral entry she had been held not to be eligible as the two years bachelor degree course passed by her was not equivalent as per Clause 41 of page no.316 of the Equivalence Book of Kurushetra University, Kuruskehtra. It has been pleaded that the petitioner has not made any false statement or suppressed any relevant fact. The University was under bounden duty to have scrutinized the matter thoroughly before permitting the petitioner to appear in the examination and not having done so it could not cancel the admission or refuse to declare the result and respondents were estopped by their own act and conduct.

(3.) IN the written statement filed by the University, it is submitted that requisite qualification/eligibility criteria as per Prospectus for the year 2012 -13 (Annexure P/4) did not provide that the candidates who have passed their B.Sc. through lateral entry were eligible and as per Clause 41 Resolution 4 of the Equivalence Book, Bachelor degree has to be of minimum three years duration course, after +2 level examination of Indian Statutory Universities, which could be recognised as equivalent to corresponding degree for the purpose of higher studies. The petitioner had been provisionally allowed to give the examination and at the time of checking it was found that she was not eligible and therefore, the decision of cancelling the admission was justified.