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[2022] 11.2 NULJ 129
Mass Copying as an Exception to Everything: Disloyalty of Indian
Judiciary Towards "Young Blur Accused"
MASS COPYING AS AN EXCEPTION TO EVERYTHING: DISLOYALTY OF
INDIAN JUDICIARY TOWARDS “YOUNG BLUR ACCUSED”
by
Dev Sharma*
ABSTRACT
The Supreme Court of India had conceptualised the offence of
“Mass Copying” as an exception to natural justice, and the author
had used his argumentative approach to demonstrate injustice with
the defendants in such cases. The blasphemy of a defendant is
widened when the Indian Supreme Court and High Courts supports
it. This was a case of mass copying crime, in which the police aid the
competent authorities by filing criminal allegations without due
process and conducting poor investigations. This article utilises a
sympathetic tone to demonstrate the long-term consequences of
filing blind criminal charges against such accused, which would
eventually affect their selection for any type of civil service and
subject them to social stigma, and it heavily relies on the “Vyapam
Scam” to describe the level of corruption that eventually surges in
the form of organized crime by state bureaucrats and politicians. The
author had attempted to establish links between “equity in general”
and “equity in particular”, respectively, with the “inherent power” of
High Courts and the Supreme Court's power to do “complete
justice”, and has demonstrated a low trend of the Indian judiciary in
using such powers to prevent the suffering of such young accused
from criminal charges in cases
Page: 130
of mass copying.
Keywords: Criminal Law, Administrative Law, Law of Evidence,
Natural justice, Rule of Law, Corruption, Non-efficacious procedures.
I. INTRODUCING “MASS COPYING”
Mass copying is a special kind of academic fraud, the term is
introduced by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India through its
decisions, it refers to the employment of unfair means in the
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examination by candidates on a large scale with a predetermined plan
and the assistance of corrupt officials1 and politicians, thus it is
reasonable to assume that it is an organized crime. The selling of seats
at government colleges and jobs in lower-level government services is
handled through conspiring Mass Copying.2 This article examines the
notion as well as the challenges that certain innocent young people face
as a result of such criminal charges, as well as the widespread
corruption in the investigation and inquiry processes that resulted in
their (candidates) incapacity to seek justice. The Vyapam scam must
not be overlooked because it is the foundation of this paper. Quoting a
relevant para from Krishna Kumar's article “understanding Vyapam”3 :
[T]he specific death that made Vyapam a national media story
this summer was that of a TV journalist who had traveled from Delhi
to interview the father of a medical student whose body was
reportedly found on a railway track 3 years ago. The young journalist
died soon after completing the interview. Despite the high number of
unexplained
deaths-figures
reported
exceeding
the
state
government's investigating team initially saw no point in treating
this phenomenon as a relevant matter.4
Page: 131
The author feels sympathy for some innocent young people accused
of mass copying who become victims of blind registration of F.I.R.
(First Information Report), which prevents them from being selected for
any government position in the future and exposes them to social
stigma. Further attempted to provide an in-depth understanding of the
general mechanism that occurs in the case of mass copying using the
decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India. Paper's main point of
departure is the tragic Vyapam scam5 , in which the board established
under the M.P Professional Examination Board Act6 cancelled the results
of 415 students who appeared in the pre-medical entrance test from
2008 to 2012 based on the use of unfair means in the examination by
some candidates.
II. DEFINING “YOUNG BLUR ACCUSED” AND EFFECT OF BLIND
REGISTRATIONS OF FIRS
The above definition gives the clear suggestion that mass copying is
a criminal conspiracy for committing academic fraud, here the
conspiracy is not amongst a couple of accused rather it involves an
uncountable mass of candidates. It is impossible for the investigating
authority i.e., the Special Task Force (STF) of the state to conduct a
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proper full-fledged investigation of such a mass conspiracy and it is
also necessary to be aware of how active and trustworthy State's police
forces are. Typically, these crimes are blindly registered against the
mass collectively.
Normally, being the competent authority, the concerned examination
board directs the registration of an FIR in these matters, but it is
important to note, as discussed in this paper ahead, that in matters of
mass conspiracy, the Supreme Court of India has immunized these
boards from following natural justice and can decide the matters even
on the basis of probabilities and circumstantial evidence, making it
difficult for the innocent to challenge the
Page: 132
matter through a petition under Article 226 of the Indian Constitution7
or section 482 of the Cr.P.C (Criminal Procedure Code).8
It is critical to understand that not every person from the centre (i.e.
examination centre where cheating held) is involved in the use of unfair
means to pass the exam; many innocent people sit to pass the exam
based on their hard work and knowledge, but due to the difficulty in
identifying the odd one out and non-availability of a substantial piece of
evidence, police chooses the easy way of blind registration of FIR
against all in the concerned centre, another reason for this could be
that police have a duty to do timely investigations under section 468of
Cr.P.C.9 Hence, the image of the conspirator seems blurred, and
becomes difficult to filter innocents from the criminals, that is why the
author will use the term Young Blur Accused to denote the accused
involved in such cases, which are divided into two subsets: those who
were involved and other are innocents who cannot be filtered out.
Enquiry by examination board curtails the power of Judicial
Review
The main aim of the examination board in these cases is to find
whether mass copying had happened?, and if happened then to order
the cancellation of the results and after the lengthy inquiry shortlist the
Young Blur Accused from the centres for further registration of F.I.R.
Such inquiries are based on probability and circumstantial evidence,
Although direct evidence is available in some cases it is not available in
the majority of cases,10 in that situation the board has to rely on
circumstantial evidence which may include the answer given by the
examinee (answer sheets or OMR), the Superintendent's report, the
invigilator's
report,
the
expert's
report,
and
other
relevant
circumstances,11 to deduce the conclusion and further order for
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cancellation of result and registration of FIR.
Page: 133
To understand the reality and effectiveness and how useful such
inquiry could be one must know how the committee forms the pattern
to filter out the candidate involved, to explain the scenario of inquiry of
expert committee through Vyapam s writ petition filed before High
Court of M.P, referring Para 51 from Pratibha Singh v. State of M.P12
The first Computer Experts Committee meeting, the mismatch
was
as
high
as
30195,
as
against
the
total
40086
applications/candidates. Whereas, in the second meeting the same
dropped down to only 876 mismatch cases….…… On reconsideration
of the available material, in the second meeting, the Committee
opined that the mismatch cases were only 876. The process adopted
by the Committee has been noted by the Committee in the
concerned Minutes. It is not for the Court to examine the correctness
of the opinion formed by the Experts Committee. The judicial review
can be only with regard to the decision making process.13
Further, the number was reduced to 415 for the cancellation of the
result quoting the relevant Para 62 of Pratibha Singh'case
The action to cancel the examination results was required to be
taken only against the genuine candidates constituting 50% of 876
mismatches. The 50% of 876 mismatches would work out to 438
candidates. Instead, the Board has presently taken action against
415 candidates and, as was stated across the Bar, against additional
24 candidates. That takes the total figure to 439 candidates.……14
It is clear from the above-referred para's the in Vyapam the
committee had applied deduction to make the number more acceptable
i.e. the very first committee number of candidates indulged was high as
30195, then by the subsequent committees the number of candidates
were reduced to 876 and then finally to 415.
Page: 134
This process of deducting the number of candidates involved by
subsequent reports is very common in pure mass copying cases like in
Vyapam where the number of candidates involved is very high. The
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inquiry in such matters requires expert knowledge to deduce the
candidate and shortlist them based on some logic and patterns derived
through probabilities and circumstantial evidence, due to the
involvement of expertise it curtails the power of Judicial review of the
High Court.
III. CONCEPT OF “SCORER AND BENEFICIARY” IN VYAPAM
In the case of Vyapam in one of its SLP Nidhi Kaim v. State of M.P.
to exercise theextraordinary power given under Article 142 of the
Indian Constitution15 and had been heard by a double bench of Hon'ble
Justice Chelameshwar and Hon'ble Justice Abhay Mohan Sapre, who
attempted to investigate the existence of a pattern and logic underlying
the generation and assignment of roll numbers and examination
centres to students. The existence of such a pattern is of great
significance and relevance in the instant case, where the committee
arrived at a pattern or logic for blaming and charging the candidates
with mass copying, and the logic was demonstrated before the court
with the names of the scorer and beneficiary, where the Beneficiary is
the person who wanted to crack the PMT test, and the scorer is the
person who has the sound knowledge to crack the PMT test. As a result,
the roll numbers were assigned in such a way that the beneficiary could
copy from the Scorer's OMR sheet. Because of a disagreement between
the two judges, the case was referred to the Chief Justice of India and
heard by a larger bench; however, the petition was ultimately denied.
IV. UNDERSTANDING MASS COPYING THROUGH ITS EXCEPTIONS
Though the term “mass copying” was first used later in the 20th
century in the Vyapam scam of 2016, but Bihar School Examination
board v. Subhash
Page: 135
Chandra Sinha16 was the very first case in which the court observed
that the board's failure to follow natural justice, or more precisely the
audi altrem partem, in the enquiries of the matter concerning the use
of unfair means in the examination by candidates on a large scale. In
Subhash Chandra Sinha's case (supra) 36 candidates who appeared in
the secondary school examination held in July 1969 were found to have
used unfair means, primarily in the Hanswadih Centre, so the result of
the appellants was not declared, which should have been declared in
September 1969, and on August 30, 1969, an advertisement was
published in newspapers that the result of certain candidates of the
Secondary school examination had been canceled due to the
candidates' use of unfair means. Eventually, the appellants filed writ
petitions in the Patna High Court, claiming that no show-cause notice
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was served on them, resulting in a clear violation of natural justice. The
Hon'ble High Court ruled in favour of the appellants, finding natural
justice inevitable, and the case was decided in the line of Board of High
School and Intermediate Education Allahabad U.P. v. Ghanshyam Das
Gupta17 where the court reasoned that natural justice is a basic
ingredient of justice irrespective of the number of defendants/accused
are there, as described by Chief Justice Hidayatullah in Subhash
Chandra Sinha's case (supra.), quoting the relevant Para 14:
The examination results of three candidates were cancelled, and
this Court held that they should have received an opportunity of
explaining their conduct. It was also said that even if the inquiry
involved a large number of persons, the Committee should frame
proper regulations for the conduct of such inquiries but not deny the
opportunity. We do not think that case has any application. Surely it
was not intended that where the examination as a whole was
vitiated, say by leakage of papers or by the destruction of some of
the answer books or by the discovery of unfair means practiced on a
vast scale that an inquiry would be made
Page: 136
giving a chance to everyone appearing at that examination to have his
say? What the Court intended to lay down was that if any particular
person was to be proceeded against, he must have a proper chance to
defend himself and this did not obviate the necessity of giving an
opportunity even though the number of persons proceeded against was
large……18
However, the Hon'ble Supreme Court overruled the decision of the
High Court and upheld the order of cancellation of the result by the
board on the grounds that no natural justice was violated because there
was no need to give the candidates the opportunity to be heard.
In the SLP of Vyapam with the name Nidhi Kaim v. State of M.P19 ,
the court put heavy reliance on the rulings in Ghanshyam Das's case
(Supra.) and Subhash Chandra Sinha's case (Supra.), Omkar Lal Bajaj
v. Union of India20 , whereas in Ghanshyam Das Gupta's case and
Subhash Chandra Sinha's case, as previously discussed, which directly
address the applicability of audi altrem partem in the context of an
allegation of mass copying in the examination, whereas in Onkar Lal
Bajaj's case (Supra.) 6000 allotments regarding Petrol Pump were
canceled without any further investigation or opportunity for hearing to
any of the allottees, the Supreme Court-appointed a special committee
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to investigate the arbitrariness in the said allotment, with the
committee free to not probe in detail because it is impossible to allow
every allottee to be heard. In Nidhi Kaim's Case (Supra.), Justice
Chelameswar analysed the above decision under Para 42 of the
judgment that:
The natural justice principle does not apply to the cases where the
use of unfair means were [Sic] adopted by a relatively large number
of students and also to certain other situations where either the
examination process is vitiated or for reasons beyond the control of
Page: 137
both students and the examining body it would be unfair or
impracticable to continue the examination process to insist upon the
compliance with audi alteram partem rule.
Normally, in cases of unfair means where the number of candidates
is not as large as in Vyapam or Subhas Chandra Sinha's case, it
becomes the duty of the board to exercise natural justice and give the
candidate/defendant a fair opportunity to represent and produce
evidence if any before the committee, but this is not the case in cases
of pure mass copying.
Now, the preceding cases clearly demonstrated why natural justice
cannot be a ground for challenging an order of cancellation of the result
by the concerned examination board; however, another ground for
challenging can be a lack of material evidence or substantial evidence
with the board to decide the matter; however, due to the lack of
substantial evidence, such examination board is protected to decide the
matter on the basis of probability and circumstantial evidence. The
Supreme Court's decision in Nidhi Kaim's case (supra.) was entirely
dependent on the expert committee report, FIR registered and the
computer data related to alteration in roll numbers. Court had also
taken into account the impossibility of having some direct evidence in
regards to the use of unfair means by the candidates, as a result, the
case was completely reliant on circumstantial evidence and probability
derived from the special knowledge of an expert however, the High
Court lacks the necessary expertise in the area of mass copying
ultimately courts left with limited scope to exercise the power of judicial
review.
The Vyapam case i.e Nidhi Kaim's case (supra.) and Subhash
Chandra Sinha's case (supra.) were some pure cases of mass copying
because the candidates involved were truly in mass, but the Board of
High School and Intermediate Education v. Bagleshwar Prasad21 case,
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in which only two candidates were involved, and was the very first in
which the Hon'ble
Page: 138
Supreme Court immunized the examination board from ordering result
cancellation based on probability and circumstances. Here, the board
found that there was the use of unfair means based on identical
mistakes in the papers of the petitioner and another examinee. When
the case was heard in High Court, the court overturned the board's
decision on the grounds that it was not supported by substantial
evidence i.e direct evidence. The respondent filed a special leave
petition before the Hon'ble Supreme Court, and the Hon'ble Court
upheld the board's order, citing relevant para from Page 878, where
Hon’ ble Justice Gajendragadkar states:
[I]n the matter of adoption of unfair means, direct evidence may
sometimes be available, but cases may arise where direct evidence
is not available and the question will have to be considered in the
light of probabilities and circumstantial evidence. This problem which
the educational institutions have to face from time to time is a
serious problem and unless there is justification to do so, the courts
should be slow to interfere with the decision of the domestic
tribunals (board) appointed by the educational bodies like
Universities under Article 226, the High Court is not sitting in appeal
over the decision in question, its jurisdiction is limited and though it
is true that if the impugned order is not supported by any evidence
at all, the High Court would be justified to quash that order. But the
conclusion that the impugned order is not supported by any
evidence must be reached after considering the question of whether
probabilities and circumstantial evidence do not justify the said
conclusion.22
The same situation was seen in Ghazanfar Rashid v. Secretary, Board
of High School23 , where Hon'ble Justice K. N Singh stated that the
Examinations Committee has the jurisdiction to adjudicate on the use
of unfair means considering not only direct evidence but also
probability and circumstantial evidence. There is no room for importing
criminal trial concepts in weighing the probative value of probability
and circumstantial
Page: 139
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evidence. The quasi-judicial authorities, including the Examinations
Committee, are not subject to the same technical rules of evidence and
procedure as courts.24
As a result, when the Court issues a writ of certiorari, it is acting in
supervisory rather than appellate jurisdiction. As a result, even if the
inferior court's, Tribunal's, or board's findings of fact are incorrect, the
court will not review them. This is based on the principle that a court
with jurisdiction over a subject matter has jurisdiction to decide wrong
as well as right, and if the legislature does not choose to confer a right
of appeal against the decision, a superior court would be defeating its
(legislature's) purpose and policy if it re-heard the case on the evidence
and substitute its own findings in certiorari.25 So, in addressing the
validity of the impugned orders passed by Boards under Article 226,
the High Court is not hearing an appeal over the decision in question,
its jurisdiction is limited, and while it is true that if the impugned order
is not supported by any evidence, the High Court would be justified in
quashing that order. However, the judgment that the assailed order is
not supported by evidence must be reached after assessing whether
probability and circumstantial evidence do not support the conclusion.26
The Ghazanfar Rashid's case (supra.) which is a full bench decision
by Allahabad High Court and has been approved by the Supreme court
expressed its doubt regarding the correctness of the decision in Prabhat
Kumar v. Board of High School27 , where mistakes made by Prabhat
Kumar in his maths paper were found similar to that of some other
examinee, in this case examination board had given him sufficient
opportunity to present his case and ultimately board ordered to cancel
his exam result, he filed Writ Petition before the Hon'ble High Court
with the contention the decision taken by board is not based upon no
evidence accept the answer sheet of the paper, High Court considered
his contention and allowed the petition and set
Page: 140
aside the order of cancellation of paper passed by the board, but
Hon'ble Allahabad High Court in Ghanzafar's case found Prabhat
Kumar's Case decision erroneous, quoting the relevant para:
There can be other possibilities on which board could have arrived
like other examinees might have copied from Prabhat's paper, or
both have copied from outside/common sources, this decision no
doubt supports the petitioner's contention, but (in) our opinion the
view taken in Prabhat Kumar's case is contrary to the principles laid
down by the Supreme Court in Bagleshwar Prasad's case (supra).28
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The Bench referred to Bagleshwar Prasad's case but it failed to notice
the importance of the principles laid down by the Supreme Court.
It appears that the Bench laid stress on the principle of law
applicable to criminal trials that no person could be held guilty based
on circumstantial evidence unless all other possibilities of his
innocence are ruled out. As noted earlier, this principle does not
apply to inquiries held by quasi-judicial authorities and orders
passed by them. A quasi-judicial authority and especially the
Examinations Committee has jurisdiction to reach its conclusion
based on probabilities and circumstantial evidence and it is not
bound by the technical rules of evidence and the principles of
criminal trials do not apply to such inquiries.29
In Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary
Education v. K.S. Gandhi30 . The Supreme Court approved the aforesaid
Full Bench decision of Allahabad High Court in Ghazanfar
Page: 141
Rashid's case (supra). The same Ghazanfar Rashid's case has been
referred by the Hon'ble High Court in Union of India v. Moiunddin
Akhtar31 , (2007).
As a result, the High Court cannot exercise its appellate jurisdiction
while sitting as a writ court, and there is no right of appeal against such
matters. However, it cannot even act in a supervisory capacity because
the courts that act in a supervisory capacity ensure the application of
natural justice and an adequate opportunity to be heard in such
disciplinary matters through its power of judicial review, but the case of
mass copying falls outside of the above two principles. As a result, the
author concluded that the court cannot even exercise writ or
supervisory jurisdiction in cases of pure mass copying. Union Public
Service Commission v. Jagannath Mishra32 , Prem Parkash Kalunia v.
Punjab University33 , B. Ramanjini v. State of Andhra Pradesh34
Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary
Education35 are few more judgments that were also referred to while
writing this paper.
V. JUDICIAL TREND IN THE EXERCISE OF EQUITY IN MASS
COPYING CASES
The paper had gone through the channels of exceptions which led to
injustice against the Young Blur Accused who left helpless because of
the rules of exception which the High Court follows while sitting in writ
jurisdiction, framed by Supreme court through cases like Nidhi Kaim's
case (Supra), Subhash Chandra Sinha's case (supra), Baghleshwar
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Prasad's (supra), the paper only claims sympathy toward the innocents
who unfortunately being framed with the criminal charges of mass
copying and their ultimate disability to seek justice because of the
immunities given to the board and
Page: 142
investigating authority. Now in this subhead, there is a discussion
about how in mass copying the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court
under section 482 of Cr.P.C (Criminal Procedure Code) gets curtailed
and how rare Supreme Court permits the candidates to retain the fruit
of fraud while exercising extraordinary power under Article 142 of the
Constitution of India.
Sir C.K. Allen's concept of equity is discussed in “Law in the
making”36, where equity is classified into two types:
I. liberal and humane interpretation of the law in general, so far as
that is possible without actual antagonism to the law itself-called
equity in general;
II. Liberal and humane modification of the law in exceptional cases
not coming within the ambit of the general rule-called particular
equity.37
(Emphasis supplied)
In other words, invocation of equitable principles while not
derogating from statutory law is “general equity”, and doing so while
ignoring or overriding the statutory law would be “particular equity”.
While the former, as a judicial attitude of mind, is comparatively easy
to adopt; the latter is more difficult because is not always possible or
desirable to relax a sound rule out of compassion for an unfortunate
litigant.38 Adv. Ninad Laud in his paper Rationalizing “complete justice”
under Article 142 of Constitution of India39 had very well linked
embodiment of the concept of general equity in Section 482 of Criminal
Procedure Code, 197340 and particular equity in Article 142 of the
constitution of India.41
Page: 143
Now Section 482 of Cr.P.C which is the inherent power of the High
Court to pass any order to “prevent abuse of process” or to “secure
ends of justice”, this power is exercised when case prima facie does not
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constitute an offense, evidence collected does not disclose cognizable
offense or when there is an abuse of process by the investigating
authority,42 here jurisdiction of High Court is very wide and acts upon
its discretion but at the same time, it is limited by the letters of law43
and has no overriding power as given to Supreme Court under Article
142.
But in the case of mass copying where a large number of accused
are involved and the charge sheet becomes very voluminous, which
consists of answer sheets or OMRs, ceased admit cards, and sometimes
the computer data so when the matter reaches to High Court under
Section 482, all the accused seems equally involved through the
prospect of charge sheet and due to absence of direct evidence
ultimately here High Court cannot quash the F.I.R or charge sheet on
account of absence of direct evidence because investigating authority
barely finds any direct evidence in such matters, so it becomes next to
impossible for the Higher Court to cull out the innocent person.
Now Article 142 is a very powerful provision that aims to provide
“complete Justice” to the Parties it is used by Supreme Court when
express law is silent on certain points then the court can do justice
based on “justice, equity and good conscience”, hence promotes
judicial innovations, it will not be wrong to consider that particular
equity is embedded in Article 142 Constitution of India.
Article 142 Constitution of India is the Highest power given to the
Supreme Court to do “complete justice”, Supreme Court in some of its
judgments had exercised power under Article 142 to set aside the order
of cancellation of admission when the substantial portion of the degree
was already completed
Page: 144
by the candidate/appellants like happened in case of Priya Gupta v.
State of Chhattisgarh44 where the appellants got admission in Jagdalpur
medical college through fraud and the authority ordered to cancel their
admission which they challenged in the concerning High Court but the
High court dismissed their petition, because of surviving interim reliefs
they were able to complete a major part of their course, eventually
matter went to the Supreme Court where the Hon'ble Apex Court set
aside the order of cancellation of result and fined them with 5 lakh each
within the ambit of Article 142 Constitution of India.
In Vyapam or the Nidhi Kaim's case45 (supra.) the matter was first
heard by the double bench, comprised of Hon'ble Justice Chelameswar
and Hon'ble Justice Abhay Mohan Sapre where they passed
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distinguished judgment, Justice Chelameswar was inclined to exercise
power under Article 142 in favor of the young appellants (juvenile) and
Justice Sapre was against the same. Justice Chelameswar in Para 49,
derived two questions i.e “whether the administrative action to nullify
any benefit acquired by a person through fraudulent means could be
taken without reference to any limitation of time? Or Whether a benefit
obtained through the perpetration of fraud could be permitted to be
retained?” and further cited cases and provisions to prove law permits
the retention of acquired by fraudulent means, He cited Situ Sahu v.
State of Jharkhand46 here in this case court held that in Chota Nagpur
Tenancy Act, 190847 power of suo moto revision given to deputy
commissioner can be exercised anytime and has no limitation period,
but it must be exercised within a reasonable time and court permitted
claimant to retain property which he acquired through fraud. Justice
Chelameswar further reasoned that knowledge is an intellectual
property and held that public policy doesn't permit to retain the benefit
of fraud, but the knowledge acquired by the medical student involved
in scams (i.e.,
Page: 145
Vyapam) is a non-transferable asset and cannot be taken back, rather
can use their knowledge to serve society, as such knowledge can be
used for the welfare of society. Where on the other hand Hon'ble Justice
Sapre was inclined to dismiss the appeal presented, quoting the
relevant Para 59:
[L]earned counsel for the appellants placed reliance upon the
decision in Priya Gupta's case (supra), and contended that this Court
should invoke its extra-ordinary jurisdiction under Article 142 of the
Constitution as was exercised in the case of Priya Gupta for granting
relief to the appellants on equitable terms and conditions and allow
the appellants to continue their study in MBBS Degree course. I
cannot accept this submission for more than one reason.
And subsequently based his reliance on Ram Preeti Yadav v. U.P.
Board of High School and Intermediate Education48 in which the Hon'ble
Supreme court found that result can be cancelled even after an
extraordinary delay of 10 years. After being heard by the double bench
Nidhi Kaim's case (Supra) was transferred to a larger bench, further the
case of Nidhi Kaim v. State of M.P.49 , (2017) was heard by a threejudge bench consisting of Hon'ble chief justice Jagdish Singh Khehar,
Hon'ble justice Kurian Joseph, Hon'ble justice Arun Mishra, but Hon'ble
court Supreme Court declined to extend the benefit of Article 142 to
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the appellants, the counsel of appellant was claiming the relief under
Article 142 in the light of Priya Gupta case (supra.), but the court had
answered the submission by concluding that by the Priya Gupta case
reached to Supreme Court the appellants were through (completed)
there course/degree.
VI. CONCLUSION
Mass copying, as a type of academic fraud, calls into question the
work of investigating and inquiry agencies. The investigation done by
the competent authority demands specialist knowledge, which
eventually limits the High
Page: 146
Courts' judicial review jurisdiction. It has been observed that even
supervisory jurisdiction cannot be exercised in such matters due to the
presence of immunity granted to the competent authorities by the
Indian Supreme Court. Even the legislature has not given the
defendants right to appeal against the decision of the examination
board.
Due to the obvious supreme court's immunity and the absence of a
substantial or direct piece of evidence, the competent authority decides
the matter on the basis of probability and circumstantial evidence,
without even hearing the young accused; this creates another
impossibility for the High Court to exercise its inherent jurisdiction, as
charge sheets prepared in such cases are typically very voluminous
based on non-substantial evidence (probability and circumstantial
evidence), with identical findings against each accused person. The
Supreme Court is also uninterested in exercising its power to do
“complete justice” under Article 142 of the Constitution of India,
leaving the young accused defenceless.
The author had made every effort to persuade its readers of the
judiciary's disloyalty, for allowing some incorrect convictions, through
blind registration of criminal accusations by police and a lack of a
mechanism for filtering of innocents.
“No matter what cause one defends, it will suffer permanent disgrace
if one resorts to blind attacks on crowds of innocent people.”
Albert Camus
———
*
IV Year, BA.LLB Student, Department of Law, UPES. The author can be contacted at
devsharmajbp3@gmail.com
1
UP: 3 Journalists Arrested for Reporting on Paper Leak Case as Attack on Press Freedom
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Continues, THEWIRE (2018), https://thewire.in/rights/up-3-journalists- arrested-for-reporting
-on-paper-leak-case-as-attack-on-press-freedom-continues (last visited Apr 3, 2022).
2
Krishna Kumar, Understanding Vyapam, 50 EPW 32, (2015).
3
Id. at 32.
4
Kumar, Supra note 2, at 35.
5
Nidhi Kaim v. State of M.P., (2016) 7 SCC 615.
6
Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board Act, § 4, No. 24 Act of Madhya Pradesh
State Legislature 2007(India).
7
Indian Const. art. 142.
8
Code of Criminal Procedure, § 482, No. 2 Acts of Parliament 1973 (India).
9
Id.
10
Ghazanfar Rashid v. Secretary, Board of High School, 1979 SCC OnLine All 359, 362.
11
Id. at 362 & 363.
12
Pratibha Singh v. State of M.P., 2014 SCC OnLine MP 4064.
13
Id. at 4079.
14
Pratibha Singh v. State of M.P., 2014 SCC OnLine MP 4064, 4079.
15
India Const. art. 142.
16
Bihar School Examination Board v. Subhas Chandra Sinha, (1970) 1 SCC 648.
17
Board of High School and Intermediate Education Allahabad U.P. v. Ghanshyam Das Gupta,
1962 Supp (3) SCR 36.
18
Bihar School Examination Board v. Subhas Chandra Sinha, (1970) 1 SCC 648, 652.
19
Nidhi Kaim v. State of M.P., (2016) 7 SCC 615.
20
Omkar Lal Bajaj v. Union of India, (2003) 2 SCC 673.
21
Board of High School and Intermediate Education v. Bagleshwar Prasad, AIR 1966 SC 875.
22
Id. at 878.
23
Ghazanfar Rashid v. Secretary, Board of High School, AIR 1979 All 209.
24
Id. at 212.
25
Hari Vishnu Kamath v. Ahmad Ishaque, AIR 1955 SC 233, 240.
26
Board of High School and Intermediate Education v. Bagleshwar Prasad, AIR 1966 SC 875,
879.
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Prabhat Kumar v. Board of High School and Intermediate Education, 1971 All LJ 1391.
28
Ghazanfar Rashid v. Secretary, Board of High School, AIR 1979 All 209, 215.
29
Ghazanfar Rashid v. Secretary, Board of High School, AIR 1979 All 209, 215.; In this case
court found the reliance on petitioner of Prabhat Singh v. Board of High School and
Intermediate Education, (1971 All LJ 1391) pointless.
30
Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education v. K.S. Gandhi,
(1991) 1 Scale 187.
31
Union
of
India
(UoI)
v.
Moiunddin
Akhtar
S/O
Bismillah,
on
26
February,
2007,
Indiankanoon.Org (2022), https://indiankanoon.org/doc/300024/?type=print (last visited Mar
31, 2022).
32
Union Public Service Commission v. Jagannath Mishra, (1963) 3 SCR 767.
33
Prem Parkash Kalunia v. Punjab University, (1973) 3 SCC 424.
34
B. Ramanjini v. State of Andhra Pradesh, (2002) 5 SCC 533.
35
Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, (1991) 1 Scale
187.
36
C.K. Allen, Law in the Making (Clarendon Press Oxford, 1927).
37
Id. at 197.
38
C.K. Allen, Supra. note 36, At 232.
39
Ninad Laud, Rationalizing “complete justice” under article 142, 1 SCC, 30, 37 and 38 of
(2021).
40
Code of Criminal Procedure, § 482, No. 2 Acts of Parliament 1973 (India).
41
Indian Const. art. 142.
42
State of Haryana v. Ch. Bhajan Lal, 1992 Supp (1) SCC 335.
43
Madhu Limaye v. State of Maharashtra, (1977) 4 SCC 551 : AIR 1978 SC 47, (1978) 1 SCR
749.
44
Priya Gupta v. State of Chhattisgarh,(2012) 7 SCC 433.
45
Nidhi Kaim v. State of M.P., (2016) 7 SCC 615.
46
Situ Sahu v. State of Jharkhand, (2004) 8 SCC 340.
47
Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act, § 71A, No. 6 Act of Bihar State Legislature 1908 (India).
48
Ram Preeti Yadav v. U.P. Board of High School and Intermediate Education, (2007) 12 SCC
385.
49
Nidhi Kaim v. State of M.P., (2017) 4 SCC 1.
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