HC refuses to interfere with single-judge order

Chandigarh, August 31
Nearly five months after a single judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court admonished Panjab University for demonstrating “careless attitude” and directed it to pay Rs 50,000 as compensation to a student, a division bench has refused to interfere with the orders.
Rapping the varsity for wasting two “valuable years” of MSc (mathematics) student Mansi Grover, Justice Mahesh Grover had also asked the varsity to hold special examination for her.
The directions came after Justice Grover was told that Mansi’s answer book had been destroyed, even as her petition before the High Court was pending.
Indicating that there was more than what met the eye, Justice Grover had ruled: “It is evident that the respondents have treated the case of the petitioner with extreme callousness which has resulted in severe prejudice to her. It has not only demonstrated careless attitude of the university to the entire examination, valuation and revaluation process, but also reveals an apathetic state of affairs, which this case reveals and which may be a tip of the iceberg.”
Going into the background of the controversy, Justice Grover had observed: “The university has been extremely callous in evaluating and giving out the result of the petitioner. Upon an application being made by the petitioner for revaluation of the answer book in Theology and Functional Analysis (TFA 618), they upgraded her marks from 26 to 33, which implied that the petitioner had passed the examination. In other subject in field theory and linear algebra (FLA 617), in the original marks sheet given out, she had already been shown as receiving 33 marks out of 100, again indicating that she had passed the subject. But amazingly, another marks sheet is issued to the petitioner in which her marks in both the subjects have been reduced from 33 to 26 in FLA 617 and from 26 to 21 in TFA 618….”
Taking up the appeal filed by the varsity, the Bench of Acting Chief Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice AK Mittal asserted: “It is not disputed that no opportunity of being heard was given to the writ petitioner before reducing her marks. The justification for reducing the marks could not be established before the court as the record was not preserved. The single judge was, thus, justified in drawing inference of arbitrariness on the part of the appellant university, which prejudiced the petitioner, entitling her to the relief claimed. We, thus, do not find any ground to interfere with the impugned order. The appeal is dismissed.”

Rap for PU Rapping the varsity for wasting two “valuable years” of MSc (mathematics) student Mansi Grover, Justice Mahesh Grover had also asked the varsity to hold special examination for her