HC tells DU to declare results of final-year open-book exam by Oct 23

A bench of justice Hima Kohli and justice Subramonium Prasad also asked the university to declare the results of remaining two post graduate courses on or before October 31. The DU has already announced results of 16 post graduate courses.

The Delhi high court on Monday directed the Delhi University to declare the results of all undergraduate final year students who had appeared for the online Open Book Examination by October 23, adding that no physical collection of the mark sheets would be allowed and the university should not insist on the students to come.

A view of an entrance to Delhi University on the day the first cut off list for admissions was released, at North Campus in New Delhi. (Amal KS/HT PHOTO)

A bench of justice Hima Kohli and justice Subramonium Prasad also asked the university to declare the results of remaining two post graduate courses on or before October 31. The DU has already announced results of 16 post graduate courses.

The court was hearing a petition filed by law student Prateek Sharma and the National Federation of the Blind, who wanted better facilities for physically disabled students during examinations. The court has been monitoring the examinations and has been passing orders from time to time for their smooth conduct.

On Monday, DU’s counsel MS Rupal filed an affidavit in the court stating that strenuous efforts are being made to expedite the evaluation process so as to enable the examination branch to declare the results for the undergraduate and post graduate courses. He said letters and emails have been sent to the principals of the college and heads of the departments with a request to expedite the process.

The court, however, said the affidavit is silent on the date for the declaration of the BA (program) results. Following this, the bench directed the varsity to declare all the results on or before November 6 after the counsel for DU said that because of the high number of students, BA (Prog) results could not be declared by October 23.

The bench also said that no physical collection of the mark sheet would be allowed and there would be no footnotes on the mark sheets that would require the students to come for the physical collection of the mark sheets. With these orders, the court also disposed of the plea and said that there are no further orders required.

Delhi University had conducted the final-year examinations for undergraduate students from August 1 to 31 in the online open-book mode and later in the blended method (online and physical examinations) from September 14.

On September 23, the court had expressed its concern on the extended schedule of the DU in declaring the results of examinations. It had said the varsity should take all steps to expedite the results as many students have to secure admissions in other universities in the country and abroad.