Alka Verma –
Published on: September 3, 2021, at 16:50 IST
Sikkim High Court has ruled that a regulation, barring candidates with re-evaluated marks from awards, by Sikkim University is Unconstitutional.
According to the regulation, the candidates whose marks got re-evaluated are ineligible for the award of rank/prizes and medals.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai and Justice Bhaskar Raj Pradhan held that the regulation violates Article 14 of Indian Constitution as it discriminates between those who asked for re-evaluation and students who did not.
The Bench also held that the re-evaluation will act as a punishment if this regulation comes in force, even though it is permitted.
Neha, a student who secured the highest marks in Master of Arts in Sociology for the batch of 2017, approached the Court challenging the validity of the regulation.
The Court directed the University to award Neha with a Gold Medal, which University refrained to do.
“A student who has been permitted to seek re-evaluation in terms of Clause 6 of the Regulations and her marks considered as the final score post re-evaluation is discriminated vis-à-vis other students who did not seek re-evaluation,” said the Court.
The Bench while giving the Order said, “Having thus allowed a student to seek re-evaluation of her/his script by a provision of the Regulations itself, not to have the re-evaluated marks considered for award of a medal, either gold or silver, would amount to punishing the student for seeking re-evaluation even when it is permitted by Clause 6 of the Regulations. It, therefore, directly impinges upon the sacrosanct provision of equality secured by Article 14 of the Constitution of India.”
While the Court also gave examples of decision of different High Court which dealt with same regulation, the University argued that it has the power to make the Regulations under Section 31 of the Regulations on Conduct of Examinations of the Sikkim University.
Click here to read/ download the Order
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