Nagpur: RashtraSantTukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU) often falls at the receiving end of the students and their supporting organisations, and this time is no exception as yet another glitch has come to the fore. A girl student in her final year of LLB had to miss out on Bar Council Exams and eventually her 6 academic months were wasted due to the telling delay in declaring her revaluation results. However the bone of contention was that the varsity officials have even not uploaded any information on their site.
A group of RTI activists – Transparent Reliable Accountable People’s Movement (TRAP) has alleged that Vice Chancellor of Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University Dr. Siddharthavinayaka P Kane has failed to comply with Section 4 of RTI Act 2005.
The members of the TRAP pointed out that Rashtrasant Tukodiji Maharaj Nagpur University has not fully complied and published the section 4 (1) (b) RTI act of 2005 on their official website ‘http://www.nagpuruniversity.orpirtmnu/homei’ keeping the students debarred from the vital information. They alleged that the students were deprived of their rights and are forced to bear the extra expenses from their pocket due to the negligence of the college.
They added that the students are totally unaware of the norms set by RTMNU for conducting of examinations by them. The RTMNU authorities have deliberately not disclosed all their ordinances in public domain. When asked the link where they have published all their ordinances, they ignored the query. The members of Trap claimed that the RTMNU should have been disclosed suo-moto all ordinances in public domain.
Talking to Nagpur Today, Ankita Shah, an LLB Student said that, according to Section 41 (B) Right To Information Act, it is the duty of the Higher Public Authority (in RTMNU it is that Vice Chancellor) who has to disclose information about every functioning of the RTMNU department. All the Ordinances which include the process of the examinations etc should be declared on the website.
Ordinance No 9 of RTMNU, entails for online posting of key information like dates of the examinations, duration of declaring the results, revaluation dates and the time frame to declare revaluation results, re-examination dates and the time period to be taken to declare its results.
Ankita alleged that she is studying in the last year i.e. 6th Semester of LLB. She appeared for reexamination during November-December last year. She was still waiting for results which have not been declared even till date.
Meanwhile the dates for the Bar Council Exams had come and since her results were not declared, she could not appear for the Bar Council Exams. She claimed that if there was a limitation of cut-off date within which the results of any exam should be declared, then she would not have to suffer. She claimed that the maximum time for the results of the Winter Examination should be declared in till February. This will help the students to enroll for the next semester or appear for any other exam.
She claimed that they had failed her in one subject. She had then applied for revaluation and had simultaneously filled the form for re-examinations paying the charges of Rs 2000/-. However, when the results of revaluation were declared, she was declared as passed. Therefore she has demanded repayment of the fees that she paid for re-examinations (Rs 2000/-). She claimed that she should be repaid since she did not give the examinations.
Ankita Kamlesh Shah also demanded a compensation to be awarded to her since, because of the willful negligence of the RTMNU, she had to waste 6 months of her life for getting enrolled in the Bar Council Examination. Ankita alleged that the officials or authorities of RTMNU are fleecing the innocent students of valuable money.
The TRAP officials have requested State Information Commissioner Vasant Patil to look into the complaint immediately and impose a high penalty with a disciplinary action on the public authority (VC of RTMNU).
