RAJESH KUMAR AND ANR.versusTHE INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERS (INDIA)

 A                          RAJESH KUMAR AND ANR.
                                             v.
                    THE INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERS (INDIA)

                                    JULY 25, 1997

 B               [M.M. PUNCHHI AND K. VENKATASWAMI, JJ.]

              Education:

          Institute of Engineers (India}-Examinations-Results of some can-
   didates withheld for adopting unfair means and malpractices in the exami11a-
 C tions-£xplanations of examinees not accepted-Results of the said
   examinees cancelled-Suit by two of the said examinees before Civil
   Court-When the matter came before the High Court, it directed the Institute
   to redecide the matter-This time the Institute adopted a new technique to
   test the ability of the examinees and decided the matter against them-Held,
 D the orders of the Institute in cancelling the results of the appellants' examina-
   tions and disqualifying them for two succeeding examinations were in access
   of jurisdiction and are quashe~The Institute should declare the result of the
   examinees forthwith.

              CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 5057 of
 E    1997.

           From the Judgment and Order dated 10.7.96 of the Punjab &
      Haryana High Court in C.W.P. No. 9699 of 1996.

              M.K. Dua for the Appellants.
  F
           Dr. Shankar Ghosh, P. Addy, Ghanshyam Joshi and A.K. Dutta for
      the Respondent.

              The following Order of the Court was delivered :
  G
              Leave granted.

         The two appellants, Rajesh Kumar and Harbir Singh appeared in the
    AIME Group 'B' examination conducted by the respondent-Institute of
    Engineers (India) on June 1, 1990. Their centre was at Tagore School,
· H Kamal. No case of copying or any malpractice was ever noticed or reported
                                      90
       RAJESH KUMAR v. INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERS (INDIA)                 91

by the supervisory staff attending the examination. Somewhere in October A
1990, the two appellants along with the 11 other examinees received
identical notices from the respondent-Institute seeking their explanation on
the allegations of copying and malpractices mentioned therein. The con-
tents of the notice were that the examiner evaluating the answer books of
the examinees had reported that 13 examinees had resorted' to copying: in B
as much as their answe.rs to some of the questions in the examination were
exactly the same and that on that basis it was thought that the examinees
had adopted unfair means. The two appellants submitted their replies to
the allegations stating that similarity in the answer books could be as a
result of the preparation from the same text books as available in the
market and that the question of copying could not arise as would be evident C
from the sitting plan of the examinees. Further, it was stated that none of
them was close to another and all were in different rooms. The paper in
question was known as 'Quantity, Surveying and Valuation' - Section B.
The plea of the examinees was negatived by the Institute and each ex-
aminee was conveyed that his results for the examination of the year 1990 D
stood cancelled and further debarring him from appearing in the two
immediately following examinations of the Institute i.e. upto the summer
of the year 1991, for adopting unfair means and malpractices.

      Aggrieved, the two appellants joining one Kuldip Raj put to chal-
lenge the order of the Institute-respondent by means of Civil Writ E
Petition No. 4259 of 1991 in the Punjab and Haryana High Court which
when placed before a Division Bench of that Court, was permitted to
be withdrawn on November 19, 1991 with permission to file a civil suit.
Thereupon, those three writ petitioners approached the Civil Court
seeking to annul the offending communication and for mandatory in- F
junction requiring the Institute to declare their results. The institute
contested the suit, Requisite issues were framed. On consideration of
the pleadings and the evidences led by the parties, the trial Court
decreed the suit holding that the non-speaking order of the Institute,
bereft of any reason, and the conclusion that the plaintiffs were guilty G
of unfair means, was without any basis. Direction was given to the
Institute to declare the results of the plaintiffs. The first appellate Court
in appeal at the instance of the Institute reversed the judgment and
decree of the trial Court dismissing the suit in holding that when the
plaintiffs had appeared in the subsequent examinations after the period
when their disqualification was over, no purpose would be served in H
    92                    SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1997] SUPP. 3 S.C.R.

A   decreeing the suit.

          In second appeal before the High Court, the plaintiffs emerged
    successful fof they were able to convince the learned Single Judge of that
    Court about the prejudice caused to their case when the answer books
    pertaining to the plaintiffs, as placed before the learned Single Judge, had
B   not been put to the plaintiffs in the inquiry !lnd secondly their sitting
    pattern/plan was such that the question of copying could never arise.
    Lastly, it was submitted that an extraneous factor had crept in the decision
    making process regarding the plaintiffs having appears in examinations
    subsequent to the period of disqualification, without any basis as it was
C   claimed that none of the plaintiffs had ever sat in any subsequent examina-
    tion. In this situation, the High Court allowed the appeal, set aside the
    decree passed by the first appellate Court below directing the Institute to
    re-decide the matter after affording an adequate opportunity of hearing to
    the plaintiffs disclosing to them the material which was against them and
D   to consider their plea. The Institute was further directed to pass a detailed
    speaking order in accordance with Jaw.

           When the matter was thus taken by the. Institute in compliance with
    the orders of the learned Single Judge, notices were sent to the two
    appellants as also their companion writ petitioner. The latter seemingly did
E   not avail of the opportunity but the two appellants did. They appeared at
    Calcutta and attempted to satisfy the Institute about the doubts. raised. The
    Institute surprisingly took a somersault in putting aside all the material,
    which was expected to be used against the appellants; material which was
    relevant to the examination such as answer books and the sitting plan etc.
p   Instead, the Institute opted for a new technique to test the ability of the
    app.ellant, which is evident from the identical orders passed in relation to
    both the appellants, extracted below :

             "The candidate informed that he consulted the book "Estimating
             and Costing" by Prof. B.N. Dutta for the purpose of preparation.
G            The book was obtained from the Library of the Institution at the
             Headquarters and the members of Examination Disciplinary Com-
             mittee and the Secretary & Director General scrutinised the
             answers written by the candidate in his answer book with reference
             to the said book and observed that substantial portion of the
H            answer written by the candidate were exactly the same as the text
       RAJESH KUMAR v. INSTITU1E OF ENGINEERS (INDIA)                   93

        printed in the book. The candidate was asked to take time to read A
        any small paragraph from tk book and cram it for identical
        reproduction in presence of the Secretary & Director General to
        justify his claim of exact reproduction of text of the said book for
        various answers during the Examination. The candidate failed to
        comply with the request."
                                                                              B
      The Institution further observed as follows :

        "The members of EDC and the SDG also observed that report of
        adoption of similar malpractices by as many as 13 candidates,
        including this candidate, of the same Central in the same subject C
        was received from the Examiner and the EDC, after the scrutiny
        of the cases, individually awarded the same punishment debarring
        all of them to appear upto Summer 1991 Examinations. All, except
        this candidate and two others, had accepted the decis.ion of the
        Institution''.
                                                                              D
      The afore communication was put to challenge by the two appellants
before the Punjab and l:~aryana High Court through Writ Petition No. 9699
of 1996. This time, the Division Bench of the High Court, without referring
to the mandate and the parameters of the inquiry laid by the learned Single
Judge, given in the decision in the regular second appeal, dismissed the      E
writ petition in limine on 10.7.96 holding that the procedure adopted by
the Institute could not be termed as arbitrary or unfair warranting inter-
ference by that Court. This order is put to challenge in this appeal.

       The resume of the afore detailed facts given a clear insight to the
minds of the members of the Institute who set in judgment or the fate of F
the appellants. The doubts as expressed by the learned Single Judge of the
High Court in the Regular Second Appeal pertaining to the material
available and the sitting pattern and also that the appellants had never sat
in the subsequent examinations after the period of disqualification was
over, were conveniently disregarded by the Institution. It would, in these G
circumstances, be not wrong to assume that had the members of the
Institute gone into grips with that materia~ the result would have gone in
favour of the appellants. Conveniently, other factors were brought in
replacement to conquer the field in asmuchas the appellants were put to
a cramming test, there and then in order to judge their capability of
memory retention in a matter of minutes. All literate men have been H
    94                     SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1997] SUPP. 3 S.C.R.

A students at a given point of time but all have not been crammers. Those
    who cram do not achieve their goal by a single reading. It is a ceaseless
    effort for days and days till the desired result is achieved. Crammers inter
    se do not have any nexus with each other. The text of a book as the common
    source for cramming establishes no connection. That per-se cannot be               I\.,.
B    evidence of any conspiracy between the crammers to adopt unfair means
    in the examination unless there be material to show that there was copying
     of the answer books, descended from the answer book of one of the
     candidates, or directly from the book leading to the copying by others. The
    .overall consideration of the Institute reflected that its members thought
     that they would be put to an embarassment if the plea of the two appellants
C    were to be accepted and, therefore, thought of declining relief to the
     appellants. Such result cannot be permitted to follow from the deliberation
     of the Institute. In the interest of fair play this Court would thus step in to
     give a corrective dose.

           For the afore reasons, we set aside the impugned order of the High
D Court and allow the appeal of the two appellants by quashing the impugned
    communication dated 14.12.1990 (Annexure P-6) ordering closure of the
    matter in the interests of justice by holding that the orders of the Institute
    in cancelling the result of the appellants' examination and disqualifying
    them for two succeeding examinations, were in excess of jurisdiction and
E   are, therefore, quashed, ordering the respondenFinstitute to declare the
    result of the appellants forthwith.

           With this end result, the appeal would stand allowed with costs.

    R.P.                                                           Appeal allowed.