TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2016 (5) TMI 1419
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....notification of the State Government. Admittedly, as on today, the notification constituting the Board has not been issued, but a body constituted earlier under various executive orders^[2] of the State of Madhya Pradesh (hereinafter referred to as "the BOARD") continues to be in existence. It carries on various activities. 2. One of the objectives of the statutory Board specified under Section 10 is as follows: "(a) to conduct entrance examinations for admission to various professional and other educational institutions on the request of the State Government, other State Governments, Central Government, Universities and national or state level institutions." 3. It appears that admissions to various medical colleges either privately managed or managed by the government in the State of Madhya Pradesh are regulated by a common entrance examination [called as "Pre- Medical Entrance Test (PMT)]. Such an examination was conducted annually by the BOARD. The Act came to be passed with a view to create a statutory basis for the BOARD which, inter alia, is required to conduct entrance examinations for admissions into various educational institutions including medical colleges....
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....tain information with regard to the PMTs of the years 2009 to 2011. On receipt of the said letters, the BOARD decided to enquire into the PMT process of not only the years 2009 to 2012 but also the year 2008. 7. The enquiry was conducted. The pattern of the enquiry is similar to the one conducted concerning PMT 2013. Based on the enquiry reports, the Board came to two conclusions: (i) there was a tampering with the examination process in each one of the abovementioned five years; and (ii) the appellants as well as some others students[5] resorted to unfair means at the said examinations. They were beneficiaries of such tampered examination process. The BOARD, therefore, cancelled the admissions of the appellants and some others. Aggrieved, a large number of students, whose admissions were cancelled, approached the Madhya Pradesh High Court by filing writ petitions. Majority of the writ petitions came to be dismissed by a common judgment dated 24.09.2014. The remaining writ petitions came to be dismissed by another common judgment dated 7.10.2014 in the light of the judgment dated 24.09.2014. The instant appeals arise out of the said judgments preferred by some of the unsuccessfu....
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....he exact logic applied in each of these years. It was only meant to illustrate the possibilities of the variations in the pattern.) What is important is the existence of a pattern and logic underlying the generation and allotment of roll numbers and examination centres to the students. The existence of such pattern is of great significance and relevance in the instant case. 12. Admittedly, there was no show cause notice to any one of the students before cancelling their admissions. No speaking order indicating the reasons which formed the basis for the cancellation of the admissions was either passed or served on any one of the appellants. Reasons were spelt out for the first time in the High Court. It appears from the impugned judgment and the submissions made before us that respondents relied upon circumstantial evidence[7] to reach the two conclusions referred to in para 7 (supra). 13. The case of the appellants before the High Court was that: (i) the impugned orders cancelling admission of the appellants were passed in flagrant violation of the principles of natural justice. None of the appellants had been given either - a show cause notice indicating th....
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....means, they cannot be permitted to retain the benefits accruing out of such a fraud, merely on the ground that there was some delay in detection of the fraud. 15. The High Court agreed with the respondents and held that it is a case of "mass copying" and there was no need to comply with the requirement of the audi alteram partem rule. In coming to the conclusion, the High Court relied upon its earlier decision in Pratibha Singh's case rendered in connection with PMT 2013[8]. The High Court also agreed with the conclusion of the respondents that there was a logical pattern in the allotment of Roll numbers and the examination centres to the students (with respect to each of the years in question) and the said logical pattern was breached with respect to the appellants. The High Court took note of the fact that the conclusions of the BOARD are based on the opinion of an expert committee (essentially consisting of people qualified in computer science) and the same cannot be interfered with in judicial review. 16. The 2nd submission is also rejected by the High Court on the ground that all the appellants resorted to unfair means in an organized manner (in collusion with officials ....
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....principles of natural justice. (iv) The appellants also made some ancillary submissions to demonstrate that the evidence relied upon by the respondents is based on facts (the details will be considered at the appropriate place) which render the evidence unreliable and unscientific. (v) Even otherwise, cancellation of result of the appellants after a long lapse of time from the date of the commission of the alleged malpractice (ranging from 1 to 5 years) is an irrational exercise of the power by the BOARD. It is argued that apart from the irrationality, such a course of action would simply ruin the lives of these candidates as they would lose precious number of years in the prime of their youth and they would be barred by age to pursue any other course at this stage. I make it clear that it is not the argument of any of the appellants herein that the allegations [mentioned in the Footnote 7], even if proved to be unexceptionable, would not be sufficient in law to justify the impugned action of the respondents. (vi) In the absence of a notification contemplated under Section 3 of the Act, there is no validly constituted BOARD under the Act and, therefore, the BOARD is wit....
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....ority of law for taking the impugned action, it is equally without any authority of law to conduct the common entrance examination (PMT). Any admission based on the marks obtained at such common entrance examination would be equally without any authority of law in the sense of legislative sanction. Whatever be the legal implications of the exercise of such power vis-à-vis others (which we are not called upon to examine in these appeals), the appellants cannot be heard saying that the BOARD has no authority of law to take action against them because they had appeared for the said examination and taken the benefit of securing admissions into the various medical colleges on the basis of the marks obtained by them in the examination. Even otherwise, the argument of the appellants is required to be rejected for the following reasons: Under the scheme of our Constitution, the executive power of the State is co-extensive with its legislative power[10]. In the absence of any operative legislation, the executive power could certainly be exercised to protect the public interest[11]. The right of each one of the appellants herein for admission to the medical colleges in the St....
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....distinguish the situation from cases of practice of unfair means by one or two students. This Court has also held that there are other circumstances justifying the departure from complying with the audi alteram partem rule. They are - leakage of question papers and destruction of a large number of answer papers[12]. In my opinion, the examples given therein are not exhaustive of all the categories constituting exceptions to the application of the rule of audi alteram partem. Therefore, the percentage of the students who are alleged to have resorted to unfair means is irrelevant. Similarly, resorting to unfair means by a 'large number of students' is not the only circumstance which justifies the non-compliance with the rule of audi alteram partem. 24. That leads me to the next question, whether the situation prescribed in the case on hand falls within the exceptional circumstances contemplated by Sinha's case? 25. A large number of judgments are cited before us to emphasise the importance of the requirement to comply with the rule of audi alteram partem as an aspect of the guarantee contained in Article 14 of the Constitution. On the other hand, the respondents have relied ....
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....shyam Das Gupta & Others, 1962 Supp (3) SCR 36 and Onkar Lal Bajaj & Others v. Union of India & Another, (2003) 2 SCC 673 to emphasise on the need to comply with the applicability of the rule of audi alteram partem. 28. Ghanshyam Das Gupta and Subhas Chandra Sinha directly deal with the applicability of the rule of audi alteram partem in the context of allegation of copying in an examination. Ramanjini's case deals with cancellation of the examination (conducted for the purpose of some recruitment process) on the ground of leakage of question papers and Onkar Lal Bajaj (supra) deals with cancellation of allotment of petrol pumps made to a large number of people, on the basis of allegations that such allotment was vitiated as a consequence of a corrupt process of selection. 29. Bagleshwar Prasad's case (supra) was a case of cancellation of examination results of only two students (the respondent before this Court and another) on the ground that they had adopted unfair means. It was not a case of non-compliance with the rule of audi alteram partem. An inquiry was conducted by a Sub-Committee constituted for the said purpose, and it found that both the students were guilty of ad....
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....ssion of any malpractice; therefore, the Board was not justified in cancelling the result.[14] That there was a failure to comply with the requirement of principles of natural justice.[15] were considered and rejected. For reaching such conclusions, this court took note of the fact that the examination centre registered an unusually high rate of success compared to the other examination centres[16] - a case of relying upon circumstantial evidence. This Court further undertook a random inspection of the answer papers of the students and recorded a finding that "a comparison of the answer books showed such a remarkable agreement in the answers that no doubt was left in our minds that the students had assistance from an outside source. Therefore, the conclusion that unfair means were adopted stands completely vindicated." The students relied upon an earlier judgment of this court in Ghanshyam Das Gupta's Case. It was held therein that the students (only 3 in number) whose examination was cancelled on the ground that they had resorted to copying ought to have been given an opportunity to defend themselves. This court distinguished Ghanshyam Das Gupta's case holding that the said ....
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....rinciples: Where there are allegations that students resorted to "unfair means on a large scale" at an examination, this court would not insist upon registration of a formal complaint. Any reliable information suggesting the occurrence of such malpractice in the examination is sufficient to authorize the examining body to take action because examining bodies are "responsible for their standards and the conduct of examinations" and "the essence of the examination is that the worth of every person is appraised without any assistance from an outside source". A lone circumstance could itself be sufficient in a given case for the examining body to record a conclusion that the students resorted to "unfair means on a large-scale" in an examination. This Court approved the conclusion of the Bihar School Examination Board that the students had resorted to unfair means on a large scale in one examination centre[17] and also approved the decision making process of the Board on the basis of circumstantial evidence. The lone circumstance that the success rate of the students who appeared for the examination from the centre in question is too high in comparison to other centres. In such ca....
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.... Government which is in possession of the necessary information and takes action upon the same. The courts ought not to take the action lightly and interfere with the same particularly when there was some material for the Government to act one way or the other. ..." 33. Coming to the case of Onkar Lal Bajaj (supra), Government of India decided to cancel the allotment of all retail outlets, LPG distributorship etc. which had been made on the basis of the recommendations of a 'Dealer Selection Board'. Such a decision was taken in view of serious allegations of illegality and impropriety in making such allotments. Approximately some 6000 allotments were cancelled without any further enquiry and opportunity to any one of the allottees. This Court set aside the Government's order of cancelling all allotments with certain further directions that the cases of 413 dealers (who were identified by the court on the basis of the material placed before this Court) be examined by a Committee consisting of a retired Judge of this Court and another of the Delhi High Court. For reaching such a conclusion, this Court rejected the submission of the Union of India that in a given situation, it may ....
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....di alteram partem if there is reliable material to come to the conclusion that the examination process is vitiated. That leads me to the next question - whether the material relied upon by the BOARD for reaching the conclusion that the examination process was contaminated insofar as the appellants (and also some more students) are concerned and the appellants are the beneficiaries of such contaminated process, is tenable? 35. A great deal of effort was made by the appellants to demonstrate to us that the various circumstances - relied upon by the respondents to reach the conclusion that each one of the appellants herein is the beneficiary of a conspiracy by which the purity of examination process undertaken by the Board is contaminated - are impeachable. The learned counsel demonstrated before us that at least in some cases, one or more of the circumstances relied upon by the Board [indicated in sub-paragraphs (iii), (iv), (v) and (vi) of Footnote 7 (supra)] are inapplicable. For example, the assumption that the "scorer" is a more accomplished student than the "beneficiary" and that the "scorer" always sat in front of the "beneficiary" at the time of the examination to enable....
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....refore, see no reason to doubt either the factual or legal correctness of the first two circumstances. It, therefore, logically follows that there was a tampering with the examination process insofar as the appellants and a few others are concerned. 38. The other submission of the appellants in this regard is that if there is a deviation from the general pattern with regard to the allotment of Roll Numbers and the examination Centres, the appellants could not be blamed or 'penalised' because the entire process of the allotment was done by the BOARD and its officials. In my opinion, the question of either 'blame' or 'penalty' does not arise in the context. If tampering with the examination process took place, whether all or some of the appellants are culpable is a matter for a criminal court to examine as and when any of the appellants is sought to be prosecuted. But the fact that the examination process was tampered with is relevant for administrative action such as the one impugned herein. The said fact formed the foundation for the further enquiry for identifying the beneficiaries of such contaminated process. Having regard to the circumstances relied upon, I do not s....
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....which consumed another three years. The net result is that appellants, who belong to 2012 batch, spent four years undergoing the training in medical course; others progressively longer periods extending up to eight years but could not acquire their degrees because of the impugned action and the pendency of this litigation. Most of the appellants would have acquired their degree in medicine by now if they had been successful at the examinations. 40. Learned counsel for the appellants made a fervent appeal that this Court in exercise its jurisdiction under Article 142 permit the appellants to complete their education subject to such conditions as this Court deems fit, to satisfy the demand of justice. A very emotional appeal was made during the course of hearing that the lives of 634 youngsters would be ruined if the impugned action of the respondents remains unaltered. They would lose a decade of precious time of their youth and they would become practically useless for themselves and for their families - even for the society. It is, therefore, submitted that this Court may modify the impugned orders in the light of twin principles that (1) the public policy of this country even ....
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....welve years after intermediate examination, he was informed that his intermediate examination was cancelled. Invariably litigation ensued. On examination of the factual background, this Court recorded a conclusion that "thus, it is evident that a fraud was committed. Respondent No.3 is the sole beneficiary to the said fraud and it, as such, must be presumed that he was a party thereto". Invoking the principle that "fraud avoids all judicial acts, ecclesiastical or temporal" and relying upon two earlier judgments in S.P. Chengalvaraya Naidu (Dead) by LRs v. Jagannath (Dead) by LRs & Others, (1994) 1 SCC 1 and Lazarus Estates Ltd. v. Beasley, (1956) 1 All ER 341, this Court reversed the High Court judgment granting relief to the third respondent. 44. In Priya Gupta's case (supra), Priya Gupta's admission to the MBBS course granted in the academic year 2006-07 was cancelled by the State of Chhattisgarh in 2010 on the ground that such admission was not in accordance with the relevant Rules[21]. This Court didn't find any illegality in the cancellation of the admission of Priya Gupta.[22] However, taking into consideration the fact that Priya Gupta had already completed her course st....
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....s it permissible for this Court to interfere with the impugned action of the respondents either on the ground that there is a considerable time lapse or that such action would have ruinous effect on the lives and careers of the appellants? and therefore inequitable is a troubling question. 47. The public policy of the country and the larger public interests, in our opinion, would be more appropriate guides than the considerations of equity to decide the questions in the absence of any statutory prescription applicable to the controversy on hand than the consideration of equity. 48. This court in Central Inland Water Transport Corporation Limited & Another v. Brojo Nath Ganguly & Another, (1986) 3 SCC 156 explained the concept of public policy and its role in the judicial decision making process in the following words: "92. The Indian Contract Act does not define the expression "public policy" or "opposed to public policy". From the very nature of things, the expressions "public policy", "opposed to public policy", or "contrary to public policy" are incapable of precise definition. Public policy, however, is not the policy of a particular government. It connotes some matter....
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....hese principles it must be able, on the ground of public policy or some other like ground, to suppress practices which, under ever new disguises, seek to weaken or negative them." It is thus clear that the principles governing public policy must be and are capable, on proper occasion, of expansion or modification. Practices which were considered perfectly normal at one time have today become obnoxious and oppressive to public conscience. If there is no head of public policy which covers a case, then the court must in consonance with public conscience and in keeping with public good and public interest declare such practice to be opposed to public policy. Above all, in deciding any case which may not be covered by authority our courts have before them the beacon light of the Preamble to the Constitution. Lacking precedent, the court can always be guided by that light and the principles underlying the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles enshrined in our Constitution." 49. One of the indicators of public policy on a given topic is the legislation dealing with the topic. The questions on which the public policy is required to be ascertained in the context of the present ....
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....e victim[27]. Situ Sahu's case (supra) is also a case establishing the principle that the law permits the retention of property acquired pursuant to fraudulent means (allegedly) because law does not permit an enquiry into the allegation beyond the reasonable period. However, when it comes to other civil rights, the public policy, as can be discerned from various enactments, seems to be not to deprive completely those who are found to have been guilty of offences of all civil rights. For example, the right to contest an election for the various constitutional bodies is denied to a person convicted of various offences enumerated under Section 8 of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 but only for a certain specified period. Similarly, the right to vote is denied to persons convicted of offences specified under Section 11A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 for a period specified therein. It is also worthwhile noticing that even such disqualifications could be removed by the Election Commission for reasons to be recorded.[28] It is required to be examined whether it would be consistent with the public policy to deprive the appellants of the benefits of their educat....
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....he tampered examination process but also the perpetrators of the various acts which constitute offences contaminating the examination process. 56. For the abovementioned reasons, I would prefer to permit the appellants to complete their study of medicine and become trained doctors to serve the nation. But at the same time there is a compelling national interest that dishonest people cannot be made to believe that "time heals everything' and the society would condone every misdeed if only they can manage to get away with their wrong doing for a considerably long period. Society must receive some compensation from the wrongdoers. Compensation need not be monetary and in the instant case it should not be. In my view, it would serve the larger public interests, by making the appellants serve the nation for a period of five years as and when they become qualified doctors^[30], without any regular salary and attendant benefits of service under the State, nor any claim for absorption into the service of the State subject of course to the payment of some allowance (either in cash or kind) for their survival. I would prefer them serving the Indian Armed Forces subject to such conditio....
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.... in various Government/Private Medical Colleges in the State of M.P. Some are prosecuting their studies in MBBS Course and some claims to have completed their studies. 9) The Vyapam, however, cancelled the appellants' PMT Examination results by order dated 09.10.2013 and various orders. The reason for cancellation was that the detailed investigations were made in conducting of the PMT examinations held in the years 2008 to 2013. The outcome of the investigations, however, revealed that the appellants and several other candidates resorted to unfair means in large scale by adopting planned strategy in answering their question papers. It was revealed that the appellants and other candidates in connivance with Vyapam's officials and some outsiders entered into a conspiracy and conceived a plan as to how the appellants and their associates should sit in the examination centre and accordingly sitting arrangements in particular examination centers with another candidate (described in scam as "scorer") were made which facilitated the candidate (described in scam as "beneficiary") to copy from the candidate (scorer) sitting in front of him from his answer sheet. It was also revealed ....
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....the appellants and other candidates by resorting to unfair means; Thirdly, the decision to cancel the appellants' result is based on Expert Committee's report which has applied their mind to all aspects of the case after taking into account all material seized in investigation and, therefore, no fault could be found in such decision of the Expert Committee; Fourthly, the decision has been taken in larger public interest; and lastly, this being a case of "mass copying", it was not necessary for the State/Vyapam to give any opportunity of hearing to any candidate individually to show cause before cancellation of their results as has been laid down by this Court consistently in several decided cases referred to hereinbelow. 14) It is this issue, which is now carried by the unsuccessful candidates (appellants) to this Court in these appeals. 15) The controversy in these appeals mainly centered around to the following legal issues. 16) In the first place, submission of learned counsel for the appellants was that the perusal of the materials relied on by the State/Vyapam against the appellants (though disputed by the appellants) would go to show that it does not make out a c....
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....he appellants with reference to the record of the case and by placing reliance on various decisions of this Court. 21) In reply, learned counsel for the respondents (State/Vyapam) supported the reasoning and the conclusion of the High Court and prayed for its upholding calling no interference therein. 22) The questions, which arise for consideration in these appeals, are, Firstly, whether it is a case of "mass copying"; Secondly, whether the appellants were entitled to a show cause notice before cancellation of their results; Thirdly, whether the appellants are entitled to claim any equity in their favour on account of delay occurred on the part of the State/Vyapam in cancelling their result and, if so, what relief are they entitled to claim; and lastly, whether the Vyapam Board was legally constituted in accordance with the provisions of the Act and if not then its effect on the controversy involved in these cases. 23) Before we examine the aforementioned questions, it is necessary to take note of the law laid down by this Court especially the law dealing with the cases of "copying" and "mass copying". 24) The first leading case of this Court (Five- Judge Bench) on the....
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....ing was based on the fact that one candidate had given wrong answer to one question precisely in the same form in which the said answers had been given by another candidate. Both the candidates were accordingly given show cause notice to explain the charge. Both denied the charge. The enquiry committee was then constituted to probe the issue and the committee came to a conclusion, after examining the whole issue, that it was a case of copying and accordingly cancelled their results. 29) Both the candidates filed writ petition in Allahabad High Court. The High Court allowed the writ petition and set aside the cancellation order. It was held that the decision to cancel the result is not supported by any evidence. The Board appealed to this Court. This Court allowed the appeal, set aside the order of the High Court and while upholding the cancellation of the result dismissed the writ petition filed by the two candidates. 30) Justice Gajendragadkar (as His Lordship then was) speaking for the Three-Judge Bench in his distinctive style of writing held in Paras 11 and 12 as under:- "11. Before the High Court, a statement was filed showing the seating arrangement in Room No.....
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.... the adoption of unfair means, direct evidence may sometimes be available, but cases may arise where direct evidence is not available and the question will have to be considered in the light of probabilities and circumstantial evidence. This problem which educational institutions have to face from time to time is a serious problem and unless there is justification to do so, courts should be slow to interfere with the decisions of domestic Tribunals appointed by educational bodies like the Universities. In dealing with the validity of the impugned orders passed by Universities under Article 226, the High Court is not sitting in appeal over the decision in question; its jurisdiction is limited and though it is true that if the impugned order is not supported by any evidence at all, the High Court would be justified to quash that order. But the conclusion that the impugned order is not supported by any evidence must be reached after considering the question as to whether probabilities and circumstantial evidence do not justify the said conclusion. Enquiries held by domestic Tribunals in such cases must, no doubt, be fair and students against whom charges are framed must be given adequ....
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....t. This Court ordered production of answer books for their inspection and compared them. The comparison showed remarkable agreement in the answers that students had assistance from an outside source. This Court allowed the Board's appeal, set aside the order of the High Court and dismissed the writ petition filed by the candidates and upheld the cancellation of the results. 35) Justice Hidayatulla-the learned Chief Justice speaking for the Three- Judge Bench in his inimitable style of writing distinguished the case of Ghanshyamdas Gupta (supra) and held in paras 13 and 14 as under:- "13. This is not a case of any particular individual who is being charged with adoption of unfair means but of the conduct of all the examinees or at least a vast majority of them at a particular centre. If it is not a question of charging any one individually with unfair means but to condemn the examination as ineffective for the purpose it was held. Must the Board give an opportunity to all the candidates to represent their cases? We think not. It was not necessary for the Board to give an opportunity to the candidates if the examinations as a whole were being cancelled. The Board had ....
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....aised without any assistance from an outside source. If at a centre the whole body of students receive assistance and are managed to secure success in the neighbourhood of 100% when others at other centres are successful only at an average of 50%, it is obvious that the University or the Board must do something in the matter. It cannot hold a detailed quasi-judicial inquiry with a right to its alumni to plead and lead evidence etc., before the results are withheld or the examinations cancelled. If there is sufficient material on which it can be demonstrated that the university was right in its conclusion that the examinations ought to be cancelled then academic standards require that the university's appreciation of the problem must be respected. It would not do for the Court to say that you should have examined all the candidates or even their representatives with a view to ascertaining whether they had received assistance or not. To do this would encourage indiscipline if not also perjury." 36) In the fourth leading case of Prem Parkash Kaluniya Vs. Punjab University and Ors., (1973) 3 SCC 424, which involved identical facts alike the facts of the case of Bagleshwar Prasad (su....
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....f B. Ramanjini & Ors. vs. State of A.P. & Ors. (2002) 5 SCC 533, the facts of the case were that the State authorities had cancelled the examination held for selecting secondary school teachers after noticing certain complaints of "mass copying" found to have been done by the candidates in the examination in respect of Anantapur District. 39) Justice Rajendra Babu (as His Lordship then was) speaking for the Bench took note of the law laid down in the case of Bihar School Examination (supra) and while upholding the decision of cancellation of the result of the candidates held as under: "8. Further, even if it was not a case of mass copying or leakage of question papers or such other circumstance, it is clear that in the conduct of the examination, a fair procedure has to be adopted. Fair procedure would mean that the candidates taking part in the examination must be capable of competing with each other by fair means. One cannot have an advantage either by copying or by having a foreknowledge of the question paper or otherwise. In such matters wide latitude should be shown to the Government and the courts should not unduly interfere with the action taken by the Government....
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....der: "4. Before we answer the questions posed, to have our conscience clear, we had called upon UPSC to produce the answer papers of both the candidates. We have carefully scrutinised the answer papers of both the candidates and on a thorough scrutiny of the same, we have no doubt in our mind that but for assistance and/or connivance of the respondent it would not have been possible for the other candidate to answer in the manner in which he has answered. As has been stated by this Court in the case of Prem Parkash Kaluniya v. Punjab University in a matter like this it would be difficult to get direct evidence and so long as an inquiry is held to be fair and it affords the candidate adequate opportunity to defend himself, the matter should not ordinarily be examined by courts with the same strictness as applicable to criminal charges. The Court had further held that where findings are based on probabilities and circumstantial evidence, such findings cannot be said to have been based on no evidence. From the facts alleged, it is crystal clear that the respondent was a brilliant student. But, if a brilliant student is found to have adopted any unfair means in a competitive e....
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....on to the post of Junior Accounts Officers to their employees. The results were displayed containing the names of successful and unsuccessful candidates. Some unsuccessful candidates then made a representation as required under Rule 13 of Telegraph Manual requesting for disclosure of their marks obtained by them in the examination. This request was not acceded to and hence these candidates filed O.A. before CAT. The CAT directed BSNL to publish the results, allow the candidates to appear in the examination next year and pass appropriate orders on their representation. The authorities concerned disposed of the representation stating that some irregular practices were noticed in the examination attributable to the candidates who resorted to unfair means and hence their results were cancelled. 42) The candidates filed writ petitions against this order in Calcutta High Court. The learned single Judge allowed the writ petition and held that B.S.N.L could not prove that it was a case of "mass copying" attributable to candidates. The appeal filed by B.S.N.L having been dismissed by the Division Bench, the matter came to this Court at the instance of B.S.N.L. This Court allowed the appe....
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....ndidate before cancellation of his result; Second, when it is difficult to prove by direct evidence that the "copying" was done by the candidates then the same can be proved by drawing inference based on probabilities and circumstantial evidence; Third, there are several ways in which unfair means can be resorted to by the candidates for doing copying individually or in the large scale by vast majority of candidates; Fourth, where few candidates are found involved in doing copying then it is necessary to give to individual candidate a show cause notice by following rules of natural justice before taking any action against him; Fifth, there must be some material (whether direct or based on probabilities and circumstances) to prove that a candidate resorted to unfair means for doing copying in answering his question paper; Sixth, if there is adequate material to prove that the copying was done by individual candidate or by the candidates on a large scale then even if no report was submitted by any invigilator of any such incident yet it would be of no significance; Seventh, the Court should not act as an appellate Court over the decision of Expert Committee to examine the issue of "c....
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.... on in the cases of Bagleshwar Prasad and Prem Prakash Kalunia (supra) for forming an opinion that both the candidates copied from each other; Fourth, the material seized in investigation prima facie established that "mass copying" was done in a planned manner by the several candidates (appellants herein) to enable them to answer the questions; Fifth, interpolations were found in sitting plan originally made by Vyapam for some years to accommodate the candidates (appellants) and others like the appellants to sit in a particular examination center in close proximity with each other so that they are able to copy from each other; Sixth, many candidates despite clearing the examination did not take admission in any medical college. There was no satisfactory answer given by them barring very few; Seventh, material seized in investigation was found sufficient by the Expert Committee to form an opinion that it was a case of "mass copying". In addition it was also established on probabilities and circumstantial evidence that the candidates in large scale which included the appellants did mass copying; Eighth, the Expert Committee examined the issues from all angles and analyzed the materia....
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....this submission. 49) Though an attempt was made by learned counsel for the appellants to distinguish the cases cited above but I am unable to notice any significant distinction. This Court, therefore, has to apply the law laid down in these cases for deciding the case at hand. It is all the more because the learned counsel for the appellants did not challenge and in my view rightly, the correctness of the view taken in any of these decisions. 50) In the light of detailed discussion and the reasoning given supra, I am of the considered opinion that it is a clear case of what is called in ordinary parlance a "mass copying" and I have no hesitation in holding so. I am also of the opinion that the procedure adopted by the State/Vyapam cannot be said to be unfair or arbitrary. I am also of the view that the action impugned is not in breach of rules of natural justice which has no application to the facts of this case as held in the cases of Bihar School Examination and BSNL (supra). It is a settled principle that rules of natural justice are not embodied rules and hence such rules cannot be put in a strait-jacket. The object of the rules of natural justice, is only to ensure that ....
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....yment due to his brilliant performance in BA and MA Examinations, why should his career be ruined. It was on these grounds, his writ petition was allowed and cancellation of his result was set aside. The appeal filed by the Board and the institute against the order of Single Judge was dismissed and hence the Board carried the matter in appeal to this Court. 55) This Court allowed the appeal and while rejecting the aforementioned three grounds of challenge, set aside the order of the High Court and dismissed the writ petition. This Court while rejecting the submissions placed reliance on earlier decision of this Court rendered in Madhyamic Shiksha Mandal M.P. vs. Abhilash Shiksha Prasar Samiti & Ors., (1998) 9 SCC 236 and quoted para 2 of Madhyamic Shiksha Mondal's case (supra) in support of their reasoning which reads as under:- "2. We feel a little distressed that in matter like this the High Court should have interfered with the decision taken by the Board........................... In the face of this material, we do not see any justification in the High Court having interfered with the decision taken by the Board to treat the examination as cancelled. It is unfortun....
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....tions whatsoever;" 26. Further, we find that there is no equity in favour of Respondent 3, inasmuch as he knew that his result had been withheld because of the allegation of having used unfair means in the examination. Suppressing this fact, he took admission in BA and studied further." 57) Applying the aforesaid law to the facts of the case at hand, I find that the appellants are not entitled to claim any equitable relief on the ground that they have almost completed their course during the interregnum period and hence no action on the basis of their PMT Examination results is called for. 58) In my view, when in the case of Ram Preeti Yadav (supra), the decision to cancel the result was taken after 10 years of the examination in which he had appeared and in the meantime, he had also completed his higher studies and secured an employment yet this Court was not impressed by such submission and rejected it in express terms. So is the case here where delay in cancellation of the result is less as compared to the case of Mr. Yadav. That apart, the case at hand prima facie established a case of "mass copying" attributable to the appellants who resorted to unfair means in a plan....
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.... Article 226 for grant of equitable relief of any nature to the appellants is not called for and if granted, it will be against the settled legal position laid down by this Court. Since no equitable relief under Article 226 is called for, as a corollary, the question of invoking our extraordinary powers under Article 142 does not appear to be proper. In any case, in the light of the finding recorded by this Court against the appellants which has resulted in upholding of the impugned order of the High Court, this is not a fit case for invocation of extraordinary equitable jurisdiction available under Article 142. Sixth, grant of any equitable relief may be construed as awarding premium to the appellants of what they did. It would demoralize the meritorious students who could not secure the admission on their merit due to the appellants' entry in the Colleges by illegal means. Seventh, this is not a case where the appellants' results were cancelled on some technical ground and that too attributable to the State. In other words, if the cancellation had been done on a cause not attributable to the appellants then perhaps this Court would have considered grant of appropriate prayer to t....
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....d by this Court in several cases relating to "copying" and "mass copying" then the law laid down in such cases must be applied to the cases at hand and not the one which lays down the law which explains the principle in general. Similarly, the last case cited has no application to the facts of this case because it deals with the applicability of rule to the case relating to the land. It is for these reasons, the submission based on the case law cited has no merit. It is accordingly rejected. 64) This takes me to the issue regarding constitution of Vyapam under the Act and its effect on the controversy in question. Since this issue has been elaborately dealt with by my esteemed Brother, I respectfully agree with His Lordship's reasoning and the conclusion and hence do not wish to add anything. 65) It is pertinent to mention that this Court by order dated 08.08.2014 has dismissed one S.L.P. (c) No. 16257 of 2014 in limine arising out of the order of the High Court dated 11.04.2014 in W.P. No. 20342 of 2013 entitled Km. Pratibha Singh & Ors. vs. State & Ors. and other connected matters. This writ petition was filed by the candidates who had appeared in the PMT examination he....
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....ic fraud or cheating in the examination is as old as the examination itself. Study made by the educationist has revealed that these malpractices are gradually on the rise across the world and has caused a threat to public trust in reliability and credibility to the system as a whole. These malpractices occur within and outside the examination halls and are perpetrated by the candidates, staff and other external agencies before, during and after the examination. Various kinds of strategies are innovated and then applied to enable the candidate to clear the examination any how. It has, therefore, destroyed the piousness of the examination. With a view to prohibit such activities, State of A.P. had enacted a legislation but it was found inadequate to control such activities. 70) It is, therefore, the collective responsibility of the Government (Central/States), educational bodies/Institutions to ponder over and evolve a uniform policy in a comprehensive manner to firmly deal with such activities in the larger public good. It is hoped that effective remedial steps would be taken in that regard. 71) In view of foregoing discussion, I find no merit in these appeals. All the appeals....
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....nection P.M.T. Examination 2013, P.M.T. Examination 2012, in the referenced P.M.T. Examination 2009, 2010, 2011, so that, action would be taken in accordance with law in connection with above. - relevant portion of the letter dated 31.12.2013 (b) We understand that the original letter is in vernacular and the above is a Translation placed on record before us." [5] Year Number of Student 2012 319 2011 98 2010 90 2009 85 2008 42 [6] Year Total number of students who appeared in the PMT 2008 38,378 2009 29,162 2010 26,711 2011 26,116 2012 38,671 [7] The Circumstances are:- (i) with respect to each of the five years in question, a definite pattern was followed by the BOARD in allotment of Roll numbers as well as examination centres. But, it is detected on enquiry that allotment of both the Roll number and the examination centre with respect to some of the students was in deviation from the pattern adopted for the year; (ii) Such deviations with reference to several centres occurred in pairs. The logical pattern employed for the generation of Roll numbers was....
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.... the Constitution make tall claims about the constitutional commitment to the rule of law in the country. [10] Rai Sahib Ram Jawaya Kapur & Others v. The State of Punjab, AIR 1955 SC 549 Para 7. Article 73 of the Constitution relates to the executive powers of the Union, while the corresponding provision in regard to the executive powers of a State is contained in Article 162. The provisions of these articles are analogous to those of section 8 and 49(2) respectively of the Government of India Act, 1935 and lay down the rule of distribution of executive powers between the Union and the States, following the same analogy as is provided in regard to the distribution of legislative powers between them. Article 162, with which we are directly concerned in this case, lays down: "Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the executive power of a State shall extend to the matters with respect to which the Legislature of the State has power to make laws: Provided that in any matter with respect to which the Legislature of a State and Parliament have power to make laws, the executive power of the State shall be subject to, and limited by, the executive po....
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....stitution or any law, the width and amplitude of its executive power cannot be circumscribed. If there is no enactment covering a particular aspect, certainly the Government can carry on the administration by issuing administrative directions or instructions, until the legislature makes a law in that behalf. Otherwise, the administration would come to a standstill." [12] The Court was then not considering the right of an examining body to cancel its own examination when it was satisfied that the examination was not properly conducted or that in the conduct of the examination the majority of the examinees had not conducted themselves as they should have. [13] Para 12. In dealing with petitions of this type, it is necessary to bear in mind that educational institutions like the Universities or Appellant 1 set up Enquiry Committees to deal with the problem posed by the adoption of unfair means by candidates, and normally it is within the jurisdiction of such domestic Tribunals to decide all relevant questions in the light of the evidence adduced before them. In the matter of the adoption of unfair means, direct evidence may sometimes be available, but cases may arise where direc....
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....connected whole. There must be evidence direct or circumstantial to deduce necessary inferences in proof of the facts in issue. There can be no inferences unless there are objective facts, direct or circumstantial from which to infer the other fact which it is sought to establish. In some cases the other facts can be inferred, as much as is practical, as if they had been actually observed. In other cases the inferences do not go beyond reasonable probability. If there are no positive proved facts, oral, documentary or circumstantial from which the inferences can be made the method of inference fails and what is left is mere speculation or conjecture. Therefore, when an inference of proof that a fact in dispute has been held established there must be some material facts or circumstances on record from which such an inference could be drawn. The standard of proof is not proof beyond reasonable doubt "but" the preponderance of probabilities tending to draw an inference that the fact must be more probable. Standard of proof cannot be put in a strait-jacket formula. No mathematical formula could be laid on degree of proof. The probative value could be gauged from facts and circumstances....
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.... 4. Everyday Science -- 90% 5. Elementary Mathematics -- 100% 6. Economics and Civics -- 92% 7. Elementary Physiology and Hygiene -- 96% 8. Geography .. 99% 9. History -- .. 88% 10. Physics -- .. 70% 11. Chemistry 100% 12. Advance Mathematics -- .. 99% 13. Sanskrit -- .. 100% [17] To assure itself regarding the correctness of the said inference, this Court undertook comparison of the answer papers of some of the students and recorded satisfaction that such answer papers "showed such a remarkable agreement in the answers that no doubt was left in the minds of this Court that the students had assistance from an outside source". [18] Whether the said circumstances would be sufficient to connect any one of the students on a criminal charge is a different question and we express no opinion on the same as we understand that criminal cases are registered and are being investigated against some of the appellants (if not all) in connection with....
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.... were only 50 seats in Jagdalpur College and there are hundreds of candidates above the appellants in the order of merit. They have also, arbitrarily and unfairly, benefited from lower fees charged in Jagdalpur College." [23] They are the beneficiaries of a tampered examination process. The tampering took place systematically and repeatedly for a number of years virtually destroying the credibility of the examination process. It deprived a number of other more deserving students from securing admissions to the medical colleges. [24] See Sections 468 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 468. Bar to taking cognizance after lapse of the period of limitation.- (1) Except as otherwise provided elsewhere in this Code, no Court shall take cognizance of an offence of the category specified in sub- section (2), after the expiry of the period of limitation. (2) The period of limitation shall be - (a) six months, if the offence is punishable with fine only; (b) one year, if the offence is punishable with imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year; (c) three years, if the offence is punishable with imprisonment for a term excee....
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....ny person is convicted of any offence which includes, or amounts to, theft or receiving stolen property, and it is proved that any other person bought the stolen property from him without knowing or having reason to believe that the same was stolen, and that any money has on his arrest been taken out of the possession of the convicted person, the Court may, on the application of such purchaser and on the restitution of the stolen property to the person entitled to the possession thereof, order that out of such money a sum not exceeding the price paid by such purchaser be delivered to him. Section 456. Power to restore possession of immovable property.- (1) When a person is convicted of an offence attended by criminal force or show of force or by criminal intimidation, and it appears to the Court that, by such force or show of force or intimidation, any person has been dispossessed of any immovable property, the Court may, if it thinks fit, order that possession of the same be restored to that person after evicting by force, if necessary, any other person who may be in possession of the property: Provided that no such order shall be made by the Court more than one ....