Pupil failed for carrying phone

Carrying a mobile phone into an examination centre can cost you a full academic year. In a significant judgement, the Bombay high court has upheld the decision of a college to fail a student who carried his mobile phone into an examination hall. The court said that the college’s decision was according to University of Mumbai rules and it thus can’t interfere in this matter.

A division bench of Justice S.C. Dharmadhikari and Justice Shalini Phansalkar Joshi was hearing a writ petition filed by the student, Darshil Thakkar. Mr Thakkar was a student of R.A. Poddar College, Matunga, and he was in the second year of his B.Com course. On March 2016, he appeared for the business law paper II. After the examination was over, a mobile phone was found with the petitioner when a personal search of all the students was conducted.

On April 2016, the college management had called his parents and, during this meeting, the petitioner was told that if he wanted to continue his studies in the college and seek leniency in the matter, he should admit in writing that he had taken the help of his mobile phone to answer a question in the examination. The petitioner was also told that he should pay a fine of '500, which would be imposed on him for carrying the mobile phone into the examination hall.

Mr Thakkar was assured that if he accepted these conditions, the college would allow him not to waste a year and — despite the fact that he would be shown to have failed the business law paper II — he could take admission in third-year B.Com under ATKT regulations. On the basis of this assurance, the petitioner made an admission in writing that he had copied an answer using his mobile phone.

On April 25, 2016, the college declared the results and Mr Thakkar was shown as absent in the business law paper II examination, but he could still avail of the benefits of ATKT rules. Accordingly, on April 28, he took admission for fifth semester classes and paid the requisite fee of '4,455.

On May 10, 2016, Mr Thakkar was called into the office of the vice-principal of the college and told that there were some mistakes in his mark sheet as well as in the fee receipt. The vice-principal asked him to submit his mark sheet and the fee receipt. After he followed this instruction, he was directed to write a new letter saying that the college can fail him in the examination since he had copied answers using his mobile phone.

On June 14, the college issued him the new mark sheet in which he was shown to have scored zero marks in all his subjects. Thakkar then asked the college authorities for an explanation, but no one paid any heed to his request.

He then moved the HC saying that in spite of the assurance given by the college during the meeting in April, he has been failed in all the subjects and, thus, his new mark sheet should be declared as illegal and he should be allowed to continue his third-year B.Com classes for the academic year of 2016-17.

Mr Thakkar’s lawyer argued that there is absolutely no material with the college authorities to show that he had copied any answer from his mobile phone.

But the HC dismissed the petition, saying, “Whatever arrangement was arrived at between the college committee and the petitioner was totally against the rules and regulations of the University of Mumbai. As a result, the University of Mumbai is not bound by such an arrangement. Unfair means used by the petitioner and the college authorities to condone the act of the petitioner of carrying a mobile phone into the examination hall — even assuming that he has not copied answers from it — to save his academic year can in no way be binding on the University of Mumbai.”