- (1.) This order will dispose of this writ petition along with four connected writ petitions. Facts are being taken from CWP No. 14035 of 2011 for convenience.
(2.) The petitioners were admitted to the M BA and MCA courses for the academic session 2010-11 conducted by the Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (for short 'the University'). The primary grievance of the petitioners is that at the time of admission the courses were governed by un-amended Rules and by an amendment carried out on 18.5.2011 the Rules have been amended to their determent midstream. They are either studying at Jalandhar or Amritsar campus of the University. The dispute arises in the following conspectus of facts as pleaded: The credit based evaluation system introduced by Respondent-University provides that the students are required to have minimum of 100 credits for the MBA Course and 225 credits for the MBA/MCA Course. On the basis of the academic performance of the students, the students are awarded Grade Points. As per the Rules provided in the prospectus issued by respondent- University, grades from "A+" to "F" are awarded to the students. The note provided under the heading of grading system in the prospectus for the sessions 2010-11 provides as under:-- Note: A student shall be required to maintain a minimum of 4.5 SGPA at the end of each semester. A student getting 'E' or lower grade in any course will be treated as having failed in that course and shall have to repeat with the approval of Board of Control, and will have to obtain atleast 'D' grade in that course within specified period as per the prevailing rules. The weight of 'E 'and 'F' will not be counted in SGPA or CGPA. The term "SGPA" refers to the 'Sessional Grade Point Average' and "CGPA" refers to 'Cumulative Grade Point Average". Thus the 'E' and 'F' grade awarded to the student would not count towards his SGPA or CGPA and the candidate is required to repeat in that course within specified period as per the prevailing Rules. The specified period has been prescribed in the prospectus and ranges from 2 to 7 1/2 years varying from course to course. That as per the scheme provided by the prospectus, the students were thus required to complete the course within the maximum time specified in the schedule and the students could repeat the course within the said period with the approval of the Board of Control. In practice a candidate who secured "E" or "F" was required to repeat that very course and could continue the courses with admission to the next semester. Thus the course alone was to be repeated and not the complete semester or core course. However, certain amendments were proposed to the Ordinance and Regulations for Credit Based Continuous evaluation grading system which were approved by the Syndicate in its meeting held on 12.3.2011. But no such amendment was informed to the petitioners at the time of admission, nor was any such recommendation suggested in the prospectus. The respondent-University issued the information brochure/prospectus for the year 2011 -12. In the note provided under the head of Grading System in the newly issued prospectus, the Note provides as under:-- Note: A student shall be required to maintain a minimum of 4.5 SGPA at the end of each semester. A student getting "E" or lower grade in any course will be treated as having failed in that course and shall have to repeat the core/elective course/or repeat/opt another course in lieu of interdisciplinary/outside department course with the approval of Board of Control, and will have to obtain atleast 'D' grade in that course within specified period as per the prevailing rules. The weight of E' and 'F' will not be counted in SGPA or CGPA. The underlined portion refers to the only additions made in the note provided in the new prospectus, the rest of the contents are the same. The office of the Dean Academic Affairs of the respondent-University issued a letter dated 17.5.2011, referring to the recommendations made by the Senate in its meeting held on 12.3.2010 and the modalities for the students who had failed, and are studying under Credit Based Evaluation System.
(3.) A joint reading of the recommendations made by the Committee and the suggestions made by the University would lead to the conclusion that the students who had scored "E" or "F" would be declared failed and would have to repeat the course as the "E" and "E" grades would now be counted in the SGPA and CGPA.;