Civil Writ Petition No. 4255 of 2007 1 In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, Chandigarh. Civil Writ Petition No. 4255 of 2007 Date of Decision: 1.4.2008 Raja Nagender Singh …Petitioner Versus National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra and Another …Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ASHUTOSH MOHUNTA HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA Present: Mr. Puneet Bali, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. V.K.Jain, Senior Advocate with Mr. Nimanyu Gautam, Advocate for the respondents. Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, J. Petitioner Raja Nagender Singh was admitted in the course of Bachelor of Technology conducted by National Institute of Technology (Deemed University), Kurukshetra. On 1.11.2004, a physical clash took amongst the students in the hostel area, resulting into fatal injuries to some students. After preliminary enquiry, petitioner was suspended from the Institute vide order dated 2.11.2004 (Annexure P1) and his entry was barred in the hostel area as he was one of the persons who participated in the clash. Vide order dated 4.11.2004 (Annexure P2) Enquiry Committee awarded Civil Writ Petition No. 4255 of 2007 2 punishment to the petitioner and it was ordered that he will be expelled from the hostel with immediate effect; he will be debarred from appearing in the campus interviews; adverse remarks are to be entered in the Character Certificates and he has to be rusticated from the institute upto June 2006 and furthermore he will be debarred from appearing in any examination upto June 2006. Petitioner instituted a civil suit challenging the order (Annexure P2) passed by the respondent-institute. He also filed an application under Order 39 Rules 1 & 2 CPC. Learned Civil Judge (Junior Division), Kurukshetra, on 29.11.2004 passed a detailed order (Annexure P3), the relevant portion of the same reads as under:- “....The order dated 2.11.2004 is in connection with clash amongst the students in the Hostel. Regarding the suspension of the applicants, the order dated 4.11.2004 has been passed in connection with restriction and other penalties as mentioned therein, seems the harsh order which may affect the career of the applicants and by passing these orders in a short period leads that no sufficient opportunities were given to the applicants or to their parents. The law relied by the counsel for the Respondents leads that without any reasonable ground the Court is not required to interference in the Educational Institution, but in the instant case, specifically on the reasons mentioned above, I am of the view that interference of the Court is warranted. Moreover, it is Civil Writ Petition No. 4255 of 2007 3 apparent on record that the mercy appeal dated 25.11.2004 is pending before the authority which is not decided till date and decision of the appeal after the date 30.11.2004 undoubtedly, would cause loss to the applicants as they would be debarred to appear in the examination commencing with effect from 30.11.2004 onwards. The legality of the order is under subjudice and at this stage, if the applicants are not allowed to appear in the examination going to be commenced with effect from 30.11.2004, undoubtedly, the applicants would suffer irreparable loss, therefore, keeping in view the facts and circumstances mentioned above and also in view of the law relied by the counsel for the applicants (supra), the Respondents are hereby directed to allow the applicants to appear in the examination going to the commenced with effect from 30.11.2004 provisionally. The application in hand is hereby allowed accordingly. 7. However, my observations made in this order shall not affect the decision of the case which shall be decided on merits”. On 9.2.2005, learned Civil Court passed another order (Annexure P4), the operative portion of which reads as under:- “...The applicants have been expelled from the Institute and are not on the rolls. The Court is not Civil Writ Petition No. 4255 of 2007 4 supposed to direct the respondents to allow the applicants for attending the classes and for appearance in the examination. It is purely administrative matter and the interference of the Court is not required to be warranted. However, mercy appeal represented by the applicants are not disposed of by the respondents till dat, therefore, in these circumstances, the absence period of the applicants are required to be considered as presence till disposal of the appeal. Finding no justifiable ground to allow the present application, the present application is hereby dismissed. 5. However, my observations made in this order shall not effect the decision of the case which shall be decided on merits”. Since learned Civil Judge (Junior Division), Kurukshetra has not allowed the petitioner and other students to join the classes, they preferred an appeal. Learned Appellate Court on 11.2.2005 vide order (Annexure P5) held that the appellants, which included the petitioner, allowed to appear provisionally in the examinations which were to commence from 14.2.2005. Vide order dated 4.3.2005 (Annexure P6), counsel for the petitioner before Appellate Court made a statement that the College Authorities have assured to revoke the impugned orders dated 2.11.2004 and 4.11.2004, therefore, in view of the same nothing was required to pursue the further relief and the appeal was sought to be withdrawn. Civil Writ Petition No. 4255 of 2007 5 In the reply filed before us, Registrar of respondent-College stated that on 1.11.2004 at about 11.45 P.M. petitioner along with other students indulged in fighting in the lawns of Hostel No.5 in the campus of the respondent-University in which certain students of final year received serious injuries, who were referred to P.G.I. Chandigarh and FIR in this regard was also registered. The Committee consisting of Proctor, Chief Warden, Senior Professors and Deputy Chief Warden was constituted and in the enquiry petitioner along with others were found to have assaulted the students with rods, shovels, sticks etc. and inflicted head injuries to them. In the written statement, respondent-College has specifically stated as under:- “15. That a committee headed by the Director, N.I.T. and comprising of other senior professors and Proctor, Deputy Chief Warden and Registrar, on 02.03.2005 considered the apology tendered by the students including the Petitioner. The committee observed as under:- 1. The Institute will consider the said apology of the aforesaid students only after all Court cases filed by them against the institution are withdrawn unconditionally. 2. Al the aforesaid students will furnish an undertaking to the Civil Writ Petition No. 4255 of 2007 6 Institution that they are ready to accept and undergo any punishment which the Institution may award to them”. It is further stated in the written statement that after the withdrawal of civil suit since the students had tendered pardon they were taken back on the rolls of the College. They were allowed to appear in the campus interviews and it was also decided not to put adverse remarks in their Character Certificate. However, they were not admitted in the hostel. The result of sixth semester was declared on 11.1.2006 as per Annexure R12. The petitioner has filed representation dated 23.8.2006 (Annexure P9). According to his own showing, petitioner had successfully completed his B.Tech (Electrical Engineering) course on 23.6.2006. A perusal of representation (Annexure P9) will show that the petitioner has been awarded following sessional marks for attendance in various subjects:- Sr.No Code No. & Subject Sessionals Marks obtained Max. Marks Name of Ld. Teacher 1 ET-302 Electrical Drives 13 50 Dr. K.K.Sharma 2 ET-304 Micro-processor & Microcontrollers 23 50 Dr. L.M.Saini 3 ET-306 Analog & Digital Communication 28 50 Dr. Lilly Dewan 4 ET-308 Switchgear and Protection 25 50 Dr. Shelly Wadhera 5 ET-301 Adv. Programming & Software Engineering 37 50 Dr. Krishan Gopal Civil Writ Petition No. 4255 of 2007 7 Sr.No Code No. & Subject Sessionals 6 ET-312 Measurements & Instrumentation-II 35 50 Dr. R.K.Arora 7 ET-314 Micro-processors Lab (P) 15 30 Drl. L.M.Saini 8 ET-316 Power System Lab (P) 17 30 Dr. Shelly Wadhera 9 ET-318 Electric Drives Lab (P) 19 40 Dr. Yash Pal 10 ET-320 Measurements & Instru. Lab-II (P) 17 30 Dr. Rupansi Batra Now the grievance made in the present writ petition is that in case period of absence is treated as presence then the petitioner will get more marks, which are to be awarded for attendance in the column of sessional and his grading will improve. We cannot accept the prayer made by the petitioner in the present writ petition on two counts. Firstly, it was petitioner's own involvement in the fight for which an FIR was registered. The petitioner was rusticated though later the punishment was recalled and he was allowed to appear in the examination. We cannot say that even though he has not attended the classes, he should be given benefit of absence from classes and it should be construed that he has attended the classes. For his own conduct and follies, the petitioner cannot claim that marks be awarded to him even though he has not attended the classes. The College Authorities have to maintain discipline. We are also hesitant to interfere in the relationship of Teacher and Taught. The University Authorities have already granted benefits to the petitioner and has withdrawn everything adverse with which petitioner was fastened by the Enquiry Committee. We cannot allow any premium to the petitioner for his absence, which was result of his own conduct. Secondly, as per the petitioner's own pleading he has Civil Writ Petition No. 4255 of 2007 8 completed B.Tech (Electrical Engineering) course on 23.6.2006. It is too late in the day to tell the University to revise the result of the petitioner once the result has been declared and published. To tell the University to improve the grade of the petitioner will not be just, therefore, we find no merit in the present writ petition and the same is dismissed. (Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia) Judge (Ashutosh Mohunta) Judge April 1, 2008 “DK”