Bombay HC tells Mumbai University to pass engineering student

Mumbai: Terming the loss of main answer-sheet of a BE mechanical final year student as unfortunate, the Bombay high court (HC) said that student cannot be penalised for the fault of the Mumbai University authorities.

The HC was hearing a writ petition filed by a final semester student of Datta Meghe Engineering College after he was failed in one subject and the university has not been able to provide the photocopy of his answer-sheet.

The HC asked MU to give average marks to the student and pass him.

A division bench of justices B.R. Gavai and Manish Pitale was hearing a writ petition filed by Saurabh Shelar, a final year student of mechanical engineering who was failed in one of the eight subjects he appeared for in the 2017 summer exams.

According to his advocate Ashraf Ahmed Shaikh, Mr Shelar had passed in seven subjects and was confident of having passed in the eighth subject too, hence applied for a photocopy of his answer-sheet so that he could apply for revaluation.

However, he only got the supplementary answer-sheet and not the main answer-sheet. He also realised that he had been given marks only of the supplementary answer-sheet.

When asked about the gaffe, the university counsel Rui Rodrigues said that they would try to work out a solution for the student.

Berating the MU for its callous approach, Justice Gavai directed the university to an average of the seven subjects the student passed in and pass him in the eighth subject too within two weeks.