High Court of Punjab and HaryanaCWP/15471/2023disposed of

Dev Sehgal v. Panjab University , Chandigarh And Others

2023-09-06Mr. Justice Vikas Bahl29 pages

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Chairman Disciplinary Authority, Rani Lakshmi Bai Kshetriya Gramin Bank Vs. Jagdish Sharan Varshney and others+ $-$ (2009) 4 SCC 240

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When he reached at his sitting place, he found that some written notes were lying there at the table, he picked up the same just to throw outside the room and in this process, the Supervisory Staff caught the appellant by saying that he was using the notes for cheating, whereas it is admitted fact that appellant had not written even a single word on his answer sheet prior to that he was implicated in the UMC case, otherwise the appellant has nothing to do with the notes already lying there on the table. After that, the appellant tried his level best to convince the Supervisory Staff that the appellant has nothing to do with these notes and he was just throwing the same outside the room and also stated that there is not a single

word written on the answer sheet. But the Supervisor Staff did not listen the hue and cry of the appellant and the made a UMC case against the appellant.

< = The appellant was not even aware about the fact that whether the notes were relating to his subject or not. Even at that time of alleged occurrence, the appellant has not even written a single word on the answer sheet.#

< 73 That the appellant has been continuously attending the classes of 6th semester and had prepared by doing hard work for appearing in the exam, but University deprived the appellant to appear in the exam of 6th semester by passing the impugned order/letter dated 02.05.2023, which caused great hardship and mental agony to the appellant as he was continuously attending the class and prepared himself for the examination and now at this stage, the deprivation of the appellant to appear in the exam will caused great prejudice to the appellant.

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which, had they been before the Committee, might have led to a decision other than the one arrived at, the Vice:Chancellor may order that such facts be placed before the Committee.

32.3. The Committee shall then reconsider the case. /

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A B C 11.2. A candidate found guilty of passing on, or attempting to pass on during the examination, a copy of a question set in the paper or the question paper itself, or a part thereof, or a solution of a question set in the question paper, to anyone, shall be disqualified for two years including that in which he is found guilty.

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C a. In India the judicial trend has always been to record reasons, even in administrative decisions, if such decisions affect anyone prejudicially.

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# d. Recording of reasons also operates as a valid restraint on any possible arbitrary exercise of judicial and quasi: judicial or even administrative power.

e. Reasons reassure that discretion has been exercised by the decision maker on relevant grounds and by disregarding extraneous considerations.

f. Reasons have virtually become as indispensable a component of a decision making process as observing principles of natural justice by judicial, quasi:judicial and even by administrative bodies.

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j. Insistence on reason is a requirement for both judicial accountability and transparency.

l. Reasons in support of decisions must be cogent, clear and succinct. A pretence of reasons or `rubber:stamp

reasons' is not to be equated with a valid decision making process.

m. It cannot be doubted that transparency is the sine qua non of restraint on abuse of judicial powers. Transparency in decision making not only makes the judges and decision makers less prone to errors but also makes them subject to broader scrutiny. (See David Shapiro in Defence of Judicial Candor (1987) 100 Harward Law Review 731: 737).

n. Since the requirement to record reasons emanates from the broad doctrine of fairness in decision making, the said requirement is now virtually a component of human rights and was considered part of Strasbourg Jurisprudence. See (1994) 19 EHRR 553, at 562 para 29 and Anya vs. University of Oxford, 2001 EWCA Civ 405, wherein the Court referred to Article 6 of European Convention of Human Rights which requires, "adequate and intelligent reasons must be given for judicial decisions". o. In all common law jurisdictions judgments play a vital role in setting up precedents for the future. Therefore, for development of law, requirement of giving reasons for the decision is of the essence and is virtually a part of "Due Process"..

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but that does not mean that the order of affirmation need not contain any reasons whatsoever ( 2

Whether there was an application of mind or not can only be disclosed by some reasons, at least in brief, mentioned in the order of the appellate authorityA

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