HC seeks DU response on student's plea to declare Eco (H) 5th sem results

The Delhi High Court has sought the response of Delhi University on a student's plea seeking declaration of her Economics (Hons) fifth semester examination result which was put on hold as she had allegedly carried some notes for one of the papers in her pouch.

Justice Prathiba M Singh also asked the varsity to place before it in a sealed cover the result of other three exams in which the student had appeared.

The court listed the matter for further hearing on May 11.

The court was hearing the petition by the final year student at Daulat Ram College seeking declaration of her results for the fifth semester in four papers which were held in December 2019.

The student said she appeared in all the exams, and in the 'International Trade' exam held on December 3, 2019, she got late due to the traffic and inadvertently carried some notes in her stationery pouch.

She claimed that when she realised it, she went to the invigilator to surrender the notes but she was not allowed to appear in the exam and by the time a fresh answer sheet was given to her, the time of the examination had concluded.

The invigilator's allegation was that she was indulging in cheating in the examination.

A show cause notice was first issued to her and thereafter, on March 12, her entire examination was treated to be cancelled, she told the court, adding that she made representations to the university but no response was received.

The woman said she was not afforded any hearing before the decision to cancel her examination was taken and barring her, the results of other students for the fifth semester have already been declared.

The DU counsel submitted that the woman chose not to file any reply to the show cause notice and she also did not seek a personal hearing.

He said the varsity is under lockdown and sought time to retrieve the records and file it before the court.

The court noted that the incident, which took place on December 3, 2019, and the proceedings in the show-cause would need to be gone into after perusing the records of the university.

Accordingly, at this stage, the respondent (DU) is permitted to file a counter affidavit along with the relevant documents within a period of two weeks. On the next date, the University of Delhi shall also place in a sealed cover before this court the result of the other three examinations where the petitioner (student) had appeared in her fifth semester, the court said.

The court noted that the woman appeared to be a meritorious student and admittedly she was not given a hearing in the proceedings pursuant to the show cause notice.

Regarding the woman's submission that her results for the other three papers ought to be declared as she wishes to apply for further studies, since this was her final year in the BA course, the court said this prayer would be considered on the next date, that is May 11.