'Focus On Your Studies': Allahabad High Court Fines Law Student ₹20K Over Baseless Plea Seeking 499/500 Marks In LLB Exam

The Allahabad High Court recently dismissed a writ petition with a cost of Rs. 20K filed by a law student who demanded to be awarded 499 out of 500 marks in her first semester LL.B examination and alleged corruption against Chhatrapati Sahuji Maharaj University, Kanpur. A bench of Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery described the petitioner as a 'chronic litigant' as it noted that she had filed at least ten petitions between 2021 and 2022, including writs, reviews and special appeals. Briefly put, the petitioner, a student of the five-year LL.B course, approached the HC seeking directions to the University to award her 100 marks in each subject, contending that she deserved 499 marks out of 500. However, upon re-examination, the University verified that she had scored only 181 marks, not 499. Taking note of the same, the Bench observed thus: "Claim of petitioner that she may get 499 marks, out of 500, was based on assumption without any basis whatsoever". The Court said that though in her affidavit, the student quoted answers to the questions, however, source thereof was not on record and even the affidavit did not state as to which questions were correctly marked in OMR sheet but no marks was awarded by university. The Court noted that merely filing documents without verifying their source would not make the case of the petitioner better, rather it will become worse. It added that the court cannot act as an expert to undertake such exercise to examine every question and answer marked by petitioner under writ jurisdiction. The single judge found no irregularity or illegality in the re-checking process and relied on the Supreme Court's rulings in Vikesh Kumar Gupta & Anr. v. State of Rajasthan to note that in educational matters where expert reports or answer keys are checked by expert committees, the Court should remain slow in interfering. Furthermore, the order also recorded that when the Bench was concluding the hearing, the petitioner kept on repeatedly disturbing the Court despite warning and even asked the Court to recuse from hearing the matter. Justice Shamshery rejected this demand with strict oral observations and proceeded to dismiss the writ petition with a cost of ₹20,000 to discourage such litigation. The amount has been directed to be deposited within 15 days in the Bank Account of the High Court Legal Services Committee. Concluding the order, the Bench advised the petitioner to "concentrate on her study so that she may get more marks by her honest preparation and she may not approach this Court again".

'Focus On Your Studies': Allahabad High Court Fines Law Student ₹20K Over Baseless Plea Seeking 499/500 Marks In LLB Exam

Sparsh Upadhyay

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