Karnataka High Court
Sri. Raghavendra Reddy M vs The Registrar on 28 January, 2020
Author: P.B.Bajanthri
Bench: P. B. Bajanthri
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU
DATED THIS THE 28TH DAY OF JANUARY, 2020
BEFORE
THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE P. B. BAJANTHRI
WRIT PETITION NO.13284 OF 2019 (EDN-RES)
Between:
Sri.Raghavendra Reddy M.,
S/o Sri.M.Tirupal Reddy,
Aged 29 years,
C/o No.8, Santosh Vihar,
Phase I, Jakkur Road,
Byatarayanapura,
Bangalore - 560 092.
...Petitioner
(By Smt.G.Sharada Bai, Advocate)
And:
The Registrar,
University of Agricultural Sciences,
Bangalore - 560 024.
...Respondent
(By Sri.B.S.Sachin, Advocate)
This Writ Petition is filed under Articles 226 and
227 of the Constitution of India praying to include the
name of the petitioner (I.D.No.PALB-5015) as an awardee
of the 'UAS Gold Medal for General Merit' in the subject
specialization of 'Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry'
for the Academic year 2018-2019 and grant the said Gold
Medal to the petitioner at the 53rd Convocation of the
respondent University.
2
This Writ Petition coming on for Preliminary
Hearing in 'B' Group, this day, the Court made the
following:-
ORDER
In the instant petition the petitioner has sought for the following reliefs;
(i) "Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus, to include the name of the petitioner (I.D.No.PALB-5015) as an awardee of the 'UAS Gold Medal for General Merit' in the subject specialisation of 'Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry' for the academic year 2018-2019 and grant the said Gold Medal to petitioner at the 53rd convocation of the respondent University and
(ii) Pass any other orders as this Hon'ble Court deems fit in the facts and circumstances of the case, in the interest of justice and equity."
2. By virtue of the interim order, petitioner was granted USA Gold Medal for General merit in the subject specialisation of 'Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry' for the academic year 2018-2019 with eligible general merit candidate for Ph.D and Master Decree Program 3 from the 53rd Convocation, USA, Bangalore which was scheduled on 25.03.2019. Such interim relief was granted subject to result of this writ petition. Respondents in their statement of objection submitted that the petitioner as well as the student Hamsa. N., D/o Nagaraju N.H, have declared as eligible candidate for the USA Gold Medal in the subject 'Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry' as they have secured equal Over all Grade Point Average (for short 'OGPA'). Even though both of them have secured equal OGPA out of 10/9.25, if the decimal is taken in to consideration then Hamsa.N. is more merited as her total OGPA read with decimal is 9.253 out of 10, whereas, the petitioner's would be 9.248 out of 10. Consequently, one cannot draw inference that both of them have secured equal OGPA out of 10. Thus, the petitioner has not made out a case.
3. On the other hand, learned counsel for the petitioner has pointed out that Regulation No. 26.1 of the 4 University of Agricultural Sciences Academic Information and Regulations (Semester System) read with 2.11 Regulation contemplates Regulation relating to the Scheme of honouring students of outstanding merit. In other words, it clarifies how calculate decimal with reference to OGPA.
4. Heard learned counsel appearing for both the parties. Perused the records.
5. For the purpose of awarding Gold Medal for each major subjects for General Merit candidates of Ph.D and Master Degree Programs, the student must have secured highest grade points not less than 9.00 OGPA in the concerned postgraduate degree together with a certificate of merit. Two or more students getting the same OGPA will be awarded a Medal and Certificate of merit each. Respondents relied on decimal arising out of OGPA 9.25 out of 10, secured by the petitioner as well as 5 one Hansa.N. and if the decimal are determined, it would be as follows;
Sl Studen ID.No Ge OGPA Date of Date of Semest Cat.
No t Name nd out of submission Final Viva- ers
er 10 s of thesis voce taken
as on
31.12.2018
1 Raghav PALB 9.25
endra 5100 F (425.64 09.07.2018 9.7.2018 6 IIIB
Reddy /46)
9.253
2 Hamsa. PALB M 9.25
N 5105 (425.41 27.06.2018 27.6.2018 6 GM
/9.248) (ICAR)
6. Regulation 26.1 of University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore Academic Information and Regulations Governing Post-Graduate Decree Programmes under Semester System Regulations (framed under Section 54(4) of the University of Agricultural Sciences Act, 2009). Regulation 2.11 reads as under;
"Regulation 26.1 - A Gold Medal for each major subject at Masters and Ph.D level shall be awarded to the students securing the highest Overall Grade Point Average with not less than 9.00 in the concerned postgraduate degree together with a certificate of Merit. Two or more students getting the same OGPA will be awarded a medal and a Certificate of Merit each. The Medal 6 and a Certificate of Merit shall be awarded at the time of Convocation. The value of each Gold Medal for each candidate will be the same."
"Regulation 2.11 - Overall Grade point Average (OGPA): it is a measure of the overall performance of a student on completion of the degree program.
It is computed by driving the total number of course credit points earned by a student over the semester by the total number of credit hours and corrected to the second decimal place."
7. Regulation 26.1 is relating to award of gold medal. In so far as Regulation 2.11 is concerned with reference to OGPA and determination of decimal place. In other words, in Regulation 26.1 there is no further distinction to the extent if, two or more candidates secure identical OGPA, further decimal is required to be calculated so as to distinguish among the candidates who has secured more marks. In the present petition, it is 9.25 out of 10. In the absence of further clarification relating to decimal marks read with OGPA, in Regulation 26.1, the contention of the respondent read at Annexure- 7 R6 is is hereby rejected, since, the petitioner and Hamsa.N., have obtained OGPA at 9.25 out of 10 which suffice to meet for awarding of Gold Medal as per Regulation 26.1. Thus, the petitioner has made out a case to grant the relief sought for in the present petition.
8. During pendency of the present petition, by virtue of the interim order, the petitioner has been awarded Gold Medal for general merit in the subject of 'Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry'.
Accordingly, awarding of gold medal for general merit in the subject of 'Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry' to petitioner is upheld. The writ petition is allowed.
Sd/-
JUDGE SB