Himachal HC issues notice on sheer negligence in evaluation of answer sheet

The High Court of Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday issued notices to the Registrar and the Examination Controller of Himachal Pradesh University to reply within three weeks in a matter related to sheer negligence in the evaluation of the answer sheet and causing irreparable loss to the career of the petitioner.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Sabina passed these orders on a petition filed by a student Keshav Singh who has alleged that he took admission in B.Sc(Maths) in Government College, Hamirpur for the session 2017-2020 and appeared in the examination of 5th semester in November 2019, informed the press note issued by PRO, High Court, Himachal Pradesh.

"In February 2020, he appeared in IIT Jam and scored 40.33 marks out of 100 and became eligible to get admission in M.Sc(PG Course) NIT. However, in June 2020, the results of the 5th semester were declared. He was given five marks only out of 70, in one of the papers, due to which he could not get admission in the NIT," the statement said.

The petitioner further alleged that he had attempted most of the questions in the paper, so he applied for rechecking of his paper.

"After rechecking, 42 marks were enhanced and he scored 47 marks in that paper," the statement added.

However, the re-evaluation result was declared after counselling of M.Sc and by that time all the seats were filled up and the admission of the petitioner was not accepted.

"He qualified the IIT Jam, 2021, but lost a period of one year during the era of this cutthroat competition and thousands of people overtook him due to negligence of the respondent University," it said.

The petitioner prayed to direct the respondents to pay him adequate compensation and to adopt a fair and proper manner of checking the papers so that in the future nobody may face the same situation as has been faced by him.

"The Court directed the respondents to file their reply within three weeks and posted the matter for December 8, 2021, it added.

( With inputs from ANI )