AMARJIT KAUR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Writ Petition has been filed invoking the certiorarial jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to quash the order passed by respondent No.3 on August 9, 1994, and the order of Respondent No.2 dated January 6, 1995, which are attached to the writ petition as Annexure P-1 and P-2 respectively.

(2.) The petitioner appeared for B.Ed. Examination held in April 1994 with Roll No.2348 at Lopon Examination Centre in Faridkot District. On April 25, 1994, the examination in Economic paper was held. The petitioner was given the answer- sheet. Thereafter, she obtained another answer-sheet and after completing the answer book, she handed over the same to the concerned Examiner, Incharge at the Centre. At the time of evaluating the answer paper, the Examiner found that the additional or continuation sheet attached to the original answer book was a smuggled one and that there was a difference in handwriting and ink on the additional/continuation sheet when compared with the main answer sheet and he also found that some part of one answer was cancelled by the petitioner as no question was given in the question paper to which the said answer found in the continuation sheet related. Therefore, the Examiner opined that the candidate used unfair means. Accordingly, proceedings were initiated by the authorities against the petitioner for using unfair means in the examination. Show-cause notice was issued to the petitioner and she submitted her reply. The Committee was constituted and the Committee after giving an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner, disqualified the petitioner from appearing in any University Examination for a period of four years including the examination in question. Against the orders of the Committee, the petitioner filed an appeal before the Vice-Chancellor of University, namely, respondent No.2, who dismissed the appeal. Challenging the disqualification imposed on her, the petitioner has filed this writ petition.

(3.) There is no dispute that the petitioner appeared in B.Ed. Examination held in April, 1994, and she attached one additional/continuation sheet to the original answer book. According to the authorities of the University, the additional/continuation sheet has been smuggled in the Examination hall and it was attached to the original answer sheet, therefore, the petitioner is guilty of indulging in unfair means at the Examination. The Committee constituted for the purposes of enquiry and taking action against the erring candidate, gave an opportunity to the petitioner to submit her explanation and also heard the petitioner in person. After considering the entire material on record, the Committee found that the candidate had smuggled the inner pages of some continuation sheets in the Examination Centre on the date of the examination. It was also found that the writing on the sheets which were inside the title cover had been written by the candidate very closely and she also gave answers to irrelevant questions. It was also found that in her main answer book, she left enough margin and space between the various words but in the case of continuation sheet, the space between the various words is very little. The candidate admitted before the Committee that handwriting in the answer sheets is that of hers but she is not in a position to explain as to how she left more space in the original answer sheet and how she had written closely in the continuation sheet. She also could not explain as to why she had written answers for the questions which were not found in the question paper. After considering all the material available, the Committee found that the petitioner adopted unfair means in the examination hall and accordingly disqualified her from appearing in any University Examination for a period of four years.