JHA, CJ. - (1.) THIS special appeal is directed against the order of the learned Single Judge dated 4. 10. 2004 in S. B. Civil Writ Petition No. 4062/2004 dismissing the writ petition of the appellant.
(2.) THE appellant had filed the writ petition seeking direction on the respondent Jai Narayan Vyas University (in short, 'the University') to cancel the result of viva voce of the appellant and other students in M. A. (Final) Examination, videography of the viva voce so that it may be subjected to re-evaluation like answer-books. THE appellant also sought direction to fix criteria for awarding marks in the viva. The case of the appellant is that in the M. A. (Previous) Examination in English in 2003, he secured 246 marks out of 400 i. e. 61. 50%. He expected gold medal in the final examination on the basis of his marks in the M. A. (Previous) Examination. Shri Man Mohan Gehlot, Head of the English Department however wanted to oblige two students, namely, Niva Bhandari who happened to be daughter of a colleague being Head of the Philosophy Department, and Priyanka Chouhan and with that in view, he got awarded lower marks in the viva paper by Shri V. P. Paliwal, Head of the Department of S. S. College, Mukangarh, Jaipur who acted as external member of the Board. as a result of his maneuvering, the appellant was awarded only 48 marks as against 75 to Niva Bhandari and 77 marks to Priyanka Chouhan. Niva Bhandari had 243 marks while Priyanka Chouhan had secured 237 marks out of 400 in the M. A. (Previous) Examination. The entire grievance of the appellant is founded on the assumption that the viva voce marks has co-related with the written marks. The University has submitted a comparative statement of the marks secured by some of the students in M. A. (Previous) and M. A. (Final) Examinations including viva voce and it would be useful to reproduce the same as under:- S. No. Roll No. Percentage of marks Previous Final Marks of Viva Voce 1. 01 59. 75% 59. 50% 69 2. 03 46% 48. 50% 60 3. 04 57% 57. 75% 50 4. 08 57. 25% 61. 75% 49 5. 11 61. 50% 61. 50% 48 6. 21 46. 75% 52. 75% 63 7. 44 48. 75% 48. 25% 45 8. 50 46. 25% 51. 75% 65 9. 52 45. 25% 33. 50% 65 10. 88 48% 45. 50% 39 11. 92 60. 75% 61. 50% 75 12. 95 59. 25% 68% 77 13. 108 41. 25% 35. 50% 67 14. 110 60% 63. 75% 55 15. 123 42. 25% 44% 60 16. 157 52. 50% 61. 75% 43 17. 176 49. 25% 54. 75% 43 18. 179 36% 37. 75% 36 19. 203 58. 50% 60. 50% 50 The names of the candidates have not been disclosed. We were however, told that the marks shown against serial No. 5, roll No. 11 are those of the appellant while marks of Niva Bhandari and Priyanka Chouhan have been mentioned against serial nos. 11 (roll no. 92) and 12 (roll no. 95) respectively. It would appear that while the appellant secured 61. 50% marks in Previous as well as Final Examinations, Niva Bhandari secured 60. 75% and 61. 50% and Priyanka Chouhan secured 59. 25% and 68% marks respectively in the two examinations. The appellant had secured higher marks in the Previous Examination, but Niva Bhandari secured same marks as the appellant and Priyanka Chouhan secured higher marks, in fact the highest, in the final examination. What is more relevant for the purpose of this case is that besides the appellant who was awarded 48 marks in the viva voce, candidate at serial No. 16 who had secured 61. 75 marks i. e. more than the appellant in the theory papers was awarded only 43 marks in the viva i. e. less than the appellant. Similarly, candidate at Serial No. 19 secured 60. 50% marks i. e. same as the appellant in the theory papers was awarded only 50 marks in the viva voce. On the other hand, candidate at Serial No. 13 secured only 35. 50% marks in the theory papers but was awarded 67 marks which was the fourth highest in the list. Similarly, the candidate at Serial No. 8 secured 51. 75% marks but was awarded 65 marks in the viva voce. These are some of the illustrations picked up from the above statement.
(3.) IT is manifest from the above statistics that the viva marks did not have any direct co-relation with the written marks and therefore, the plea of the appellant that he was awarded lower marks in the viva with an oblique motive does not appear to have any foundation. IT goes without saying that while a student may secure good marks in the theory papers, he may not be awarded equally good marks in the viva and vice-versa. Although no argument was advanced on the efficacy of the viva voce test it is apposite to notice the following observations in Lila Dhar vs. State of Rajasthan, (1981) 4 SCC 159:- " It is now well recognised that while a written examination assesses a candidate's knowledge and intellectual ability, an interview test is valuable to assess a candidate's overall intellectual and personal qualities. While a written examination has certain distinct advantage over the interview test there are yet no written tests which can evaluate a candidate's initiative, alertness, resourcefulness, dependableness, cooperativeness, capacity for clear and logical presentation, effectiveness in discussion, effectiveness in meeting and dealing with others, adaptability, judgment, ability to make decisions, ability to lead intellectual and moral integrity. Some of these qualities may be evaluated, perhaps with some degree of error, by an interview test, much depending on the constitution of the interview board. " These observations were made in the context of selection for appointment to public service on the basis of composite test comprising of written test and the viva voce and all the factors catalogued in the above passage may not be taken into consideration while assessing the candidate's performance in the viva voce at the level of the University Examination. However, there cannot be two opinions that the object of written test and viva voce test are different and it is not necessary that a candidate securing good marks in written papers would secure equally good marks in the viva. ;