' The petitioner appeared in B.A. II-A, Examination in 1992 under Roll No, 19381, at Centre No, LHR(8)G.I(Mozang). The result of the said Examination was declared on 9-9-1993 but against petitioner's roll number it was written "R.L." (result later on due to non-receipt of English Paper-B).
The petitioner kept on filing the applications for her result and the last application was given on 20- 9-1994 to the Controller of Examination (respondent No, 1) seeking declaration of her result; on which the petitioner was informed that her English Paper-B was not received from the relevant centre, so her result could not be declared. In fact on 27-4-1994 the fictitious roll numbers were enlisted on the answer books and the same were sent to the Examiner with the letter that "memo.
Not received" and the total answer books received were only 93.
2. The contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that the petitioner has suffered one year set back due to no fault of her and it is English Paper-B which gives high marks and if the paper was not sent to the Examiner by the University authorities due to their negligence then according to the Rules the petitioner was entitled to the average of marks.
3. The respondents have filed the written statement. Their contention is that the Centre Superintendent sent a packet of answer books to the office of the Chief Secrecy Officer of the University on 25-2-1993. The Chief Secrecy Officer pointed out in his report that the copy of the Memo was missing and the packet contained only 93 answer books. The result was declared on 9- 9-1993 and the result of the petitioner was shown as "Result Later On" due to missing of her English Paper-B. On 14-10-1993 Examination Branch prepared the list of "Later On" cases and sent to the Secrecy Branch for obtaining the award list of "Later on" cases. On an application filed before the Controller of Examination for declaration of her result the petitioner was informed about the aforesaid missing paper. They have nowhere levelled any sort of misconduct on the part of the petitioner in their written statement. On the query of this Court, they have admitted that the attendance sheet was not available and that the candidate has appeared in one of the Papers and there is a possibility that the petitioner would have also appeared in the second paper and since her paper was not received in the office and not sent to the Examiner the petitioner could not be awarded average of marks. She could be, however, allowed to re-appear in English (Language)
Paper 'B' only a date suiting to the candidate.
4. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have also perused the record. It is rather unfortunate that the petitioner, a girl student, appeared in B.A. Second Annual Examination in 1992 and two/three years have elapsed due to negligence of the University authorities. No allegation of any sort was levelled against the petitioner rather the respondents have baldly admitted that the petitioner might have appeared in the second paper as well. Regulation 6 of Chapter VII--Conduct of Examinations of the Calendar of the University of the Punjab, for the year 1990 specifically provides: "If a candidate's paper is lost after having been received by the Superintendent of the Examination Centre or by one of his assistants, and if he passes in all other subjects of the examination, he may be required to appear in that one paper which is lost on a date fixed by the Controller of Examinations, and if he obtains pass marks he shall be deemed to have passed the examination. In case of dispute as to whether a candidate's paper was duly received or not, the finding of the Controller of Examinations, subject to the approval of the Vice-Chancellor, shall be final: ' Provided that if an answer book/s received by an Examiner is/are lost before or after evaluation, average of the marks obtained by the candidate in other papers in which he has appeared shall be awarded to him in the said paper. The candidate shall, however, have the option either to avail the average of the marks or to reappear in the paper: ' Provided further that the benefit of grant of average marks will not be given to candidates in cases of re-checking of answer-books after declaration of their results, if their answer-book/s is/are lost at the time of re-checking. They will, however, have the option to re-appear in the paper/s in the next examination, if otherwise eligible. The candidate will also be allowed to claim refund of fee for re-checking."
Proviso to Regulation 6 is quite clear. In case the answer book received by the Examiner is lost before or after its evaluation, the average of the marks obtained by the candidate in other papers shall be awarded to him in the said paper and the legislature has left the choice of the option of the candidate whether he/she wants to avail average of the marks or to re-appear in the paper. In this case the petitioner does not want to re-appear in the said paper and she has a genuine claim as the respondents have miserably failed to point out any kind of mischief, mishandling or misuse or misconduct on the part of the petitioner, therefore, she cannot suffer for the gross negligence of the University authorities or the person incharge of the Examination.
5. For the foregoing reasons this petition is accepted and the respondent No,1 is directed to determine the average of the marks obtained by the petitioner in other papers in which she has appeared and declared successful.
6. There shall be no order as to costs.