Write away, students! Bombay HC stays Mumbai univ’s decision to ban extra answer sheets
Court said there may be students who won’t finish the question paper in one paper book; varsity wanted to ban supplements to avoid papers getting lost
The University of Mumbai (MU) students can write to their hearts’ content in examinations, as the Bombay high court has stayed a circular of the university denying students supplements after they fill the 40-page answer sheet.
The division bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice BP Colabawalla stayed the circular saying that the academic body had come out with the novel idea that answer sheets won’t be lost if not provided at all. By way of interim relief, the bench has now directed MU to provide extra sheets as and when demanded by students.
The court stayed the circular after considering that there could be candidates, who would finish the question paper in one paper book, but some students may have bigger handwriting, forcing them to go for additional answer sheets and it would be unfair to not provide it.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Manasi Bhushan, a student of Government Law College, on the circular issued by the University this October, after it switched over to the online evaluation of answer sheets. The university decided to do away with supplements after several errors crept in scanning answer sheets that had additional supplements attached and decided to provide only one 40-page answer sheet.
Bhushan challenged the circular saying it was in violation of the basic rights of a student. Her petition stated that currently an answer sheet comprises 40 pages, of which four pages are printed for the purpose of putting in details of students and cannot be used for writing answers, thus leaving only 36 pages for students to actually write. She added that the university's logic that each student would complete the paper within 40 pages was flawed and should be reconsidered.
The court has now asked the university to file a reply to the petition and will now hear Bhushan’s petition next month.