9911796707
TMI Blog1970 (3) TMI 162X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Hidayatullah, C.J., This is an appeal against the judgment and order of the High Court of Patna, December 8, 1969 in Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No. 1040 of 1969. It is brought to this Court by special leave. The appellant is the Bihar School Examination Board through its Chairman. The respondents are 36 students of S.S.H.E. school, Jagdishpur and H. E. School Malaur, District Shahabad. They had moved the High Court under Art. 226 of the Constitution against the order of the Board cancelling annual Secondary School Examination of 1969 in relation to Hanswadih centre in Shalibad District. They had also asked that a mandamus be issued to the Board to publish the results of the students who appea ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... valid order under the Bihar School Examination Board Regulations. From the record of the case and the return which has been filed by the Board the following facts appear The Tabulators of the Hanswadih centres' reported that the percentage of successful examinees was as high as 80% whereas the average at the Arrah, Dalippur centres was only 50%. They were therefore asked to prepare percentage subject wise. All the Tabulators submitted these precentages. The matter was referred to the Unfair Means Committee of the Board. The Committee in its turn asked the Moderators to look into all the answer books where the percentage was 80% or more. They reported unfair means on a mass scale. The Chairman then passed an order on August 30, 1969 can ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... an to pass the order under the Regulations but did not decide it as it reached the conclusion that the principles of natural justice were violated and the orders of the Chairman and/or the Board were, therefore unsustainable. The order of the Board was quashed and the publication of the results of the Hanswadih Centre was ordered. This Court granted special leave and directed stay of the operation of the order of the High Court. We heard this appeal on February 25, 1970. Since the next examination at which the respondents can appear is scheduled to be held in March, we did not wish to delay the decision of the appeal. We accordingly passed an order allowing the appeal and set aside the order of the High Court but stated that we would give ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y the Chairman and he reported it to the Board which fully endorsed it. Therefore the cancellation of the examinations at Hanswadih Centre must be treated as an order of the Board and cannot, therefore, be challenged on the ground that it was incompetently made. This brings us to the crux of the problem. The High Court interfered on the ground that natural justice and fair play were not observed in this case. This was repeated to us by the respondents in the appeal. A mention of fair play does not come very well from the respondents who were grossly guilty of breach of fair play themselves at the examinations. Apart from the reports of the experts, the results speak for themselves. At the other centres the average of successful candidates ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion of unfair means on a mass scale. In these circumstances it would be wrong to insist that the Board must hold a detailed inquiry into the matter and examine each individual case to satisfy itself which of the candidates had not adopted unfair means. The examination as a whole had to go. Reliance was placed upon Ghanshyam Das Gupta's case(1), to which we referred earlier. There the examination results of three candidates were cancelled, and this Court held that they should have received an opportunity of explaining their conduct. It was also said that even, if the inquiry involved a large number of persons, the Committee should frame proper regulations for the conduct of such inquiries but not deny the opportunity. We do not think t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is that the worth of every person is appraised without any assistance from an outside source. If at a centre the whole body of students receive assistance and manage to secure success in the neighbourhood of 100% when others at other centres are successful only at an average of 50%, it is obvious that the university or the Board must do something in the matter. It cannot hold a detailed quasi-judicial inquiry with a right to its alumni to plead and lead evidence etc. before the results are withheld or the examinations cancelled. If [1] [1962] Supp. 3SC.R. 36. There is sufficient material on which it can be demonstrated that the university was right in its conclusion that the examinations ought to be cancelled then academic standards requir ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
