The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has imposed a cost of Rs 2 lakhs on Lucknow University for passing arbitrary orders against the B.Sc 3rd year student ruining her career.
A Single Bench of Justice Alok Mathur passed this order while hearing a petition filed by Priyanka Dubey.
The case clearly demonstrates callous and negligence attitude and actions of the Lucknow University with regard to the petitioner, who was a student of B.Sc 3rd year and had appeared in the examinations in 2009. The result of the said examinations were declared, but the result of the petitioner was withheld.
Subsequently, the petitioner came to know that the result has been withheld on account of certain allegations attributable to the petitioner, according to which the answer sheets were manipulated in six subjects.
Despite repeated attempts made by the petitioner, no order was passed by the respondent-University either scoring her answersheets in the aforesaid subjects nor passing any order which may indicate her misconduct due to which the said examination was cancelled. No order was passed by the Lucknow University till a show cause notice was given to the petitioner for the first time on 20.02.2010.
In the said show cause notice dated 20.2.2010 passed by the office of the Controller of Examination the petitioner was asked to respond to the allegations with regard to the subjects which were coded as S-648, S649, S-650, S-671, S-672 and S-673 the answer sheets were transplanted and the petitioner was directed to respond to the said allegations within a period of 15 days.
The petitioner duly responded to the said show cause notice by a reply dated 12.03.2010 and denied the said allegations and further stated that she was never made aware of the aforesaid allegations. After submitting a reply on 12.03.2010, the respondent University did not communicate any decision in pursuance of the show cause notice given to the petitioner.
The Court noted that,
It seems that the Lucknow University on receiving the response of the petitioner had constituted an Examination Committee to take a decision with regard to the petitioner. It has been informed that the said committee came to a decision on 21.05.2012 to the effect that the petitioner be permitted to appear as an exempted candidate in the year 2012-13 and also took a decision that her examinations in the year 2009 stood cancelled. There is no dispute that the decision of the examination committee dated 21.05.2012 was never communicated to the petitioner and it is on account of the said fact that the petitioner could not even appear in 2012-13 examination.
It seems that respondent University realised their mistake that the order of the Examination Committee dated 21.05.2012 was never communicated to the petitioner, and in the meanwhile the petitioner had approached the Court by filing a writ petition.
It is during hearing of the said writ petition, Counsel for the Lucknow University informed the Court that a decision in this regard has been taken by the University on 15.11.2014. When the counsel for the petitioner was informed about the fresh decision having been taken by the Lucknow University, he prayed for dismissal of the petition as withdrawn with a liberty to file a fresh petition assailing the decision of the Lucknow University. It is the subsequent decision dated 15.11.2014 passed by the Examination Committee that the petition has been filed by the petitioner.
In the aforesaid circumstances, the Court is of the view that the proceedings conducted by the respondents were clearly in gross violation of principle of natural justice and such proceedings cannot be sustained. The second aspect of the matter is with regard to the non-communication of the order dated 21.05.2012. Merely passing of the order is not sufficient to hold a person guilty during an inquiry but it is equally essential and mandatory that such an order should in fact be communicated to the delinquent at the conclusion of the enquiry proceedings. Non-communication of the order renders the same non-est and non-existing and no action can be taken in furtherance of the order which has not been communicated to the party concerned.
The order dated 15.11.2014 has been passed only on the basis of the previous order dated 21.05.2012. Once we have held the order dated 21.05.2012 being illegal and non-est, then the subsequent order dated 15.11.2014 based solely on the previous order dated 21.05.2012 would suffer the same fate and is also illegal and arbitrary to the extent it cancels the papers of the petitioner pertaining to the examinations held in 2009.
The Court observed that,
From the above, it is clear that the manner of conducting the inquiry by the Lucknow University in the case was clearly illegal and arbitrary as no opportunity was given to the petitioner and the first order dated 21.05.2012 it seems was passed three years after the alleged incident with regard to transplantation of the order sheets. The matter directly pertains to the educational future of the student, who was deprived from sitting in the examinations of the B.Sc 3rd year and even pursuing further education, to which the candidate may have been entitled. The action of the Lucknow University is not only in violation of the principle of natural justice but has deleterious effects on the future of the candidate and such an action is deplorable.
It is in the aforesaid circumstance, the Court is of the considered view that merely permitting the petitioner to sit in the examinations of 2014-15 does not in any way justify the negligent and careless conduct of the University.
In the order dated 15.11.2024 an inquiry was also ordered by the Vice-Chancellor to inquire into the circumstances as to why the order dated 21.05.2012 was not communicated to the petitioner. The counter affidavit of the University is silent on this aspect of the matter. It seems that the University is not serious about such directions and even the Vice-Chancellor has not cared to see that his orders are complied.
In light of the above, the Court allowed the petition and the order dated 15.11.2014 stands quashed except Clause 3 which provides for conduct of inquiry, in view of the fact that the court has already held that the previous order dated 21.05.2012 is non-est and non-existing.
The Court said that, no opportunity was given to the petitioner nor there is a definite finding with regard to the culpability of the petitioner, coupled with the fact that the order dated 21.05.2012 was not communicated to the petitioner and hence she was not permitted to sit in the examinations for the year 2012-13, the Lucknow University is responsible for ruining the career of a student without there being any definite and concrete finding of misconduct in the alleged transplantation of answer sheets.
The courts have consistently laid down that for unnecessary delay and inconvenience, the opposite party must be compensated with costs.
In these circumstances, the petitioner at best can only be compensated and accordingly, the Court allowed the petition at the cost of rupees two lakhs, which shall be paid by the respondent University to the petitioner within a period of two months from the date a certified copy of the order is produced before the concerned authority.