Delhi High Court - Orders
Ishaan Kumar vs University Of Delhi & Anr on 31 January, 2024
Author: C.Hari Shankar
Bench: C. Hari Shankar
$~31
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(C) 15330/2023
ISHAAN KUMAR ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Ashish Dholakia, Sr.
Advocate with Mr. Shivek Trehan, Mr.
Rohan Chawla, Mr. Abhishek Gaind and
Ms. Rishika Goyal, Advocates
versus
UNIVERSITY OF DELHI & ANR. ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. Akshat Bajpai, Ms. Ishanee
Sharma, Mr. Shobhit Trehan and Ms.
Renuka Parmanand, Advocates for R-1 & 2
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE C. HARI SHANKAR
ORDER
% 31.01.2024
1. This petition presents a somewhat unprecedented situation before this Court.
2. The petitioner is a student of the three year law course held by the Law Centre-II, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi. His grievance is that his Competition Law paper has not been fully evaluated, as the examiner who checked the paper was unable to read many of the words written by the petitioner owing to his handwriting. The petitioner has placed on record the entire answer-sheet in which it is seen that several words which are difficult to read have been circled by the examiner.
W.P.(C) 15330/2023 Page 1 of 4This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 01/02/2024 at 23:10:29
3. Mr. Akshat Bajpai, learned counsel for the respondents, candidly acknowledges that the marks of the petitioner may have been reduced because of the fact that the examiner could not understand the handwriting of the petitioner. He, however, submits that the applicable rules of the University, in a professional course, only provide for re- totalling of the marks, which has been undertaken.
4. On the last date of hearing, this Court had mooted the issue of whether, in the peculiar facts of this case, the petitioner's paper could be directed to be re-examined by another examiner.
5. The Court has to tailor the relief depending upon the facts of each case. At the end of the day, justice has to prevail.
6. I have seen the handwritten answer-sheets which have been placed on record with the writ petition. Some of the words which have been circled by the examiner do appear to me to be readable. There is, however, no gainsaying that the petitioner's handwriting does leave a lot to be desired and given the fact that he is envisaging entering the legal profession, the petitioner may do well to remedy the situation before it becomes irremediable.
7. That said, every candidate who undertakes an examination is entitled, at the very least to have his paper evaluated. Unless a candidate's handwriting is completely unreadable, he cannot be denied the right to have his answer valued on merit merely because his handwriting is very poor. It is apparent from the record that some of the petitioner's answers have not been checked because his handwriting was not intelligible to the examiner who was checking the W.P.(C) 15330/2023 Page 2 of 4 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 01/02/2024 at 23:10:29 paper.
8. While meaning no disrespect whatsoever to the learned examiner who has clearly made every effort to try and understand what the petitioner had written, the Court deems it appropriate, given the fact that the petitioner's academic and professional career is at stake, to request the University to have the petitioner's answer-sheet evaluated by the same examiner who had earlier evaluated the answer- sheet, on the basis of Annexure C to this writ petition, which is stated to be the typed copy of the handwritten answer-sheet. It is made clear, however, that it would be for the examiner concerned to satisfy himself that the typed copy is actually the typed version of the handwritten answer sheet which was earlier provided by the petitioner. The examiner would have complete freedom in that regard. In case the examiner feels that any of the unintelligible words in the handwritten answer sheet have been typed out properly in the typed copy, he would proceed to evaluate those answers appropriately.
9. The University is directed to provide, to the examiner who had examined the Competition Law paper of the petitioner, the typed copy of the petitioner's answer sheet annexed as Annexure C to this writ petition, within two weeks. The examiner is requested to re-examine the petitioner's paper apropos the words used by the petitioner which may have been unintelligible to him at first instance. If he finds that the typed transliteration of the words is accurate, he would be at liberty to re-value the said answers appropriately.
10. Let the said exercise be carried out within a period of three W.P.(C) 15330/2023 Page 3 of 4 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 01/02/2024 at 23:10:30 weeks from the typed answer sheets being provided to the petitioner. Let the revalued answer-sheet be forwarded by the examiner to the University within ten days thereof. The University is directed to place the re-valued answer-sheet before the Court in a sealed cover before the next date of hearing.
11. Renotify on 18 March 2024.
C.HARI SHANKAR, J JANUARY 31, 2024 yg Click here to check corrigendum, if any W.P.(C) 15330/2023 Page 4 of 4 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 01/02/2024 at 23:10:30