MC 3441/2008 BEFORE HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR J CHELAMESWAR HON’BLE MR JUSTICE CR SARMA This is a Misc Case filed by an unregistered body allegedly comprising a large n umber of students pursuing their law courses in various law colleges within the jurisdiction of the respondent No.1. Petitioners Nos.2 and 3 are individual stud ents pursuing their law courses in two of the different law colleges mentioned a bove, the details of which may not be necessary for the present purpose. The relief sought in the present application is that an earlier order da ted 27-9-06 in PIL No.23/06, more particularly the direction No.9 contained in p ara 18 of the said judgment, be modified. By the above mentioned direction No.9 of the said judgment dated 27-9-06 this court in substance directed that henceforth the Gauhati University will h old the law examinations in different centers so that the students of any law co llege do not appear in such law examination in their own college . The grievance of the petitioners herein is that there are thirteen law c olleges within the jurisdiction of the Gauhati University. The Controller of Exa minations of the Gauhati University by its notification dated 10-11-08 noti fied the various dates for conducting the examinations both for LLB Preliminary and LLB Final for the year 2008 on various dates specifying the dates with refer ence to each of the papers in which the examination will be conducted. Again, by a further notification dated 5-12-08 the Controller of Examinations, Gauhati Un iversity notified the various centers in which the students studying in the vari ous law colleges are required to appear in the examinations. It is in the backgr ound of the said notification dated 5-12-08 the present application came to b e filed complaining that the centers so fixed by the notification dated 5-12-08 of the Controller of Examinations, Gauhati University are fixed in such a manner that it causes a great deal of inconvenience to the student community. For the purpose of illustrating the nature of the difficulties that are likely to be fac ed by the students we may indicate here that by the notification the students pu rsuing law courses in Dhubri Law College are required to appear in examination i n Goalpara Law College. It is agreed on all hands that the distance between Dhub ri and Goalpara is approximately 135 kms and vice versa. It is the grievance of the petitioners that even if the directions contained in direction No.9 of the j udgment dated 27-9-08 is to be complied with, the University need not have organ ized the examination in such a manner which would require the students to travel such long distances to take their examination that are to be held extending ove r a period of time but not on a single day. It is also the grievance of the peti tioners that in some of these places appropriate accommodation also may not be a vailable for the students to stay until they complete their examination, thereby , necessitating the students to undertake the travel on each and every day when they are required to appear in the examinations. We may mention here that the judgment dated 27-9-08 has become final and we do not see any reason to reconsider or modify the directions contained in di rection No.9 of the said judgment. It may be necessary here to mention that on t wo earlier occasions attempts were made both by the Gauhati University and one o f the law colleges within the jurisdiction of the Gauhati University by filing M isc Applications to seek a review of the direction No.9 referred to above. Both the above Misc Applications were dismissed by this court. But that does not mean that the University should fix the examination pr ogramme in such a way so as to cause serious inconvenience to the student commun ity. It is always possible to comply with the above mentioned direction with the minimum inconvenience to the student community as well as the University. Unfor tunately, the Controller of Examinations missed the point and fixed the examinat ion programme in such a manner which resulted in the present application. When the matter was taken up yesterday (5-1-09) on a suggestion from the court all the learned counsel appearing for the various parties in the present application, Shri U Bhuyan, learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr DP Chaliha, l earned Sr Counsel for the University and Mr BD Konwar, learned counsel for the B ar Council of India, agreed to come out with a suggestion, insofar as the examin ation centers are concerned, in a manner that would cause least inconvenience to all the concerned. Accordingly today when the matter is taken up a revised arra ngement of the examination centers with respect to each one of the thirteen law colleges referred to earlier has been placed before us. It is agreed by all the learned counsel for the parties that if the examinations are accordingly conduct ed it would ensure not only compliance with the direction of the judgment dated 27-9-08 but also cause the minimum inconvenience not only for the students but f or all the concerned in the matter. The consensus regarding the proposed centers where students of each one of the law colleges would take their examination is as follows :- 1. Dhubri Law College - Kokrajhar Law College(Vis-à-vis) 2. Barpeta Law College - Nalbari Law College (Vis-à-vis) 3. Goalpara Law College - Bongaigaon Law College(Vis-à-vis) 4. Tezpur Law College - Nagaon Law College (vis-à-vis) 5. BRM Law College - Dispur Law College (Vis-à-vis) 6. JB Law College - GU Law College (Vis-à-vis) 7. Mangaldoi Law College - Shall be accommodated in two examination centers at G uwahati, i.e. BRM Law College and Gauhati University Law College. In the circumstances the Misc Case is disposed of directing the Gauhati University to conduct the examinations in the various centers as indicated above with reference to the students of each of the law colleges. In view of the pendency of the present application by an order dated 19- 12-08 this court stayed the conduct of the examinations which were scheduled to commence w.e.f. 23-12-08. Necessarily, the University will have to re-schedul e the examinations. The University will take appropriate steps for re-scheduling the various examinations which are due to be conducted under the previous notif ication. Goes without saying that such an exercise should be completed expeditio usly in order to avoid any loss of time for the student community. It is also ne cessary that the University should keep in mind, while fixing the examination pr ogramme, that each one of the students will have to travel some distance from th e place of their residence to take the examination and, therefore, the time of t he examination should be so chosen to enable the students to have sufficient tim e to undertake the journey on each day of the examination for the purpose of att ending the examinations.