The students had filed the petition demanding “Jumping” facility to allow them to appear for 3rd & 4th or 5th & 6th or 7th & 8th Semester Examination taken together in one part of Summer 2014. The issue was nagging the students and RTMNU for the past 8 months and subsequently witnessed agitations, violence on the part of aggrieved students. The recommendations of a Committee, specifically constituted by RTMNU to go through the issue, turned out to be the last straw in this context.
Nagpur News: The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court has delivered a hammering blow to the “Jumping” hopes of Engineering students when it rejected their petition in this regard. The students had filed the petition demanding “Jumping” facility to allow them to appear for 3rd & 4th or 5th & 6th or 7th & 8th Semester Examination taken together in one part of Summer 2014. The issue was nagging the students and RTMNU for the past 8 months and subsequently witnessed agitations, violence on the part of aggrieved students. The recommendations of a Committee, specifically constituted by RTMNU to go through the issue, turned out to be the last straw in this context.
The engineering students had cited the Notification passed by Academic Council dated 13.9.2013 and was issued by the University mentioning permission to appear in the examinations. The said Notification was also sent to the Governor’s Office fot its consent. However, the Governor’s Office had stayed the Notification. The Acting Vice Chancellor Anoop Kumar had also held 2-3 meetings on the issue.
The RTMNU had constituted a Committee consisting of Registrar, Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Controller of Examinations to examine the issues involved and give its recommendations accordingly. The Committee examined in details the Notification and also existing provisions of Statutes/Ordinances/Directions issued by the University from time to time. Accordingly, the students who are eligible as per the above Ordinance/Direction could not be found eligible to appear in the examination.
The Committee observed that the present students who are demanding to be allowed to appear in Summer 2014 examination cannot do so on the ground they are not fulfilling eligibility criteria before the commencement of the academic term/session in which they want to appear for the examination. In fact, they have become eligible after the academic term in regular courses and academic term of the examination was over. The eligibility so acquired is not before the commencement of the course but after the completion of academic term.
The final report of the committee to give recommendations on the so called carry on issue was submitted on April 19. The report was sent to legal opinion also, which stated that relevant legal provisions and facts therein clear that the existing rules do not permit these students to appear in summer 2014 examination( except) in winter 2014 for their old semester as per the previous practice and rules.
The Acting Vice Chancellor, in view of the clear recommendations of the committee and the legal opinion, decided to accept the report of the said committee. Now, the High Court decision has finally put an end to the long pending demand of engineering students.
VC’s reaction:
The VC, while speaking with media, denied any pressure from Chief Minister’s Office on the issue. The matter was studied in details without any discrimination. The process was followed with rules and regulations of the RTMNU. The students had exaggerated the number affected by the RTMNU’s move in this respect time and again. Students had cited the number of students as 6000. On the contrary, after scrutinizing, the number of students was concluded as not more than 900. However, the Acting VC Anoop Kumar said that the High Court decision will not cause an irreparable damage to students’ career.
Anoop Kumar also said that priority would be given to NAAC accreditation for which a team is coming to Nagpur and added that exam reforms are on the cards to deal with recurring problems of revaluation, delayed results and other vital issues. The Rajesh Agrawal Committee recommendations will also be implemented in this context, the VC said.
