# PUNJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH v. VIJAY SINGH LAMBA ETC. ETC. Avril 15. 1976

- **Citation:** [1976] Supp. 1 S.C.R. 67
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1975-03-31
- **Bench:** Y. V. Chandrachud, R. Krishna Iyer, N. L. Untwalia
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/punjab-university-chandigarh-v-vijay-singh-lamba-etc-etc-avril-15-1976-7215
- **Pages:** 7

## Headnote

B
Quorun1-Fixing a quo'rum of 2 members in a committee of 3, does not
·warrant all the three must be vresent for validity of any action of the committee
-Punjab University Calendar, 1973, Vol. 11--RegultNions 31 and 32.1-lnter-'
pretatidn of.
Regulations 31 and 32.l of the Punjab University Calendar 1973, Volume II
are as under :
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"31. The Syndicate shall appoint annually a standing committee to
deal with cases of the alleged misconduct and use of unfair means in
connection with examinations;
32.1. When the committee is unanimous, its decision shall be final
except as provided in S. 32.2. If the Committee is not unanimous,
the matter shall be referred to the Vice-Chancellor who shall either
.:lecide the matter himself or refer it to the Syndicate for decision".
D
By virtue of the powers vested in the syndicate, the Punjab University
appointed a standing committee under Regulation 31 consisting of a retired
high court judge, an Advocate who was formerly a minister of State of
Punjab & the Registrar of the University, It also resolved, by its Resolutioh
date-d 17th August 1971, that two members shall form the quorum for the.
meetings of the standing committee appointed under Regulation 31. For
adopting unfair practices in the examination, respondents were disqualified by
the Committee, in all the sittings of which. only two out of the three members were present. The respondents contended by their writ petitions that the
decisions of the Standing Committee were without jurisdiction in as much as
all the three members of the Standing Committee had not taken part in the
meetings in \Vhich the decisions to disqualify them were taken.
By a majority
of 2 to 1, the High Court set aside the decisions taking the view that despite
the c:rcumstance that two members of the committee formed the quorum, the
impugned decisions were vitiated by the fact that only 2 and not all the 3
n1embers of the committee participated in the proceedings.
Allowing the appeals by certificate, the Court,
HELD : (1) The Constitution of the Standing Committee is indisputably
\Vithin the powers of the Syndicate under Regulation 31.
The Syndicate which
had the power to appoint the Standing Committee had the incidental power to
fix the quorum for the meetings of the Standing Committee. 'Quorum' denotes the minimum number of members of any body of persons whose presence
is necessary in order to enable that body to transact its business validly so
that its acts mav be lawful. It is wholly inappropriate to draw on the Constitution of judiciil tribunals as a parallel. In the ~tant cas~, the syndicate by
non1inating 3 persons to be members of the Standing Comm~ttee, but by resolving that 2 of them would validly constit~te the st~nding committee, did no
more than provide that though the Standmg Committee may be composed of
3 persons, any 2 of them could validly and effectively transact the bu.sines< of'
and oh behalf of the Committee. [70 &F, 71-A-CJ
(ii) By the quorum, a minimum number of members of the committee
mnst be present in order that its proceedings ll!ay be lawful,
~ut that d~s
not mean that more than the minimu!ll. are denied an opportunity to ~arhc1pate in the delibeTations and the dec1s1on 1 of the committee. There is
no
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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
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warrant for the hypothesis that had the third member attended the meetings
be would have dissented from the decision of the 2 other members so as to
necessitate a reference to the Vice Chancellor under Regulation 32.1. [71 F-G72-AB]
(iii) When Regulation 32.1 speaks of the committee being unanimous, it
refers to the unanimity of the members who for the time being are sitting on
the committee and who, by forn;tin21 the quorum can validly ind lawfully discharge the functions of the Committee. The fixation of quorum neither makes
Regulation 32.1 a dead letter nor does it affect its ~pplication or utility. The
fixation of quorum by the Syndicate violates neither the lett

## Text

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67
PUNJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH
A
v.
VIJAY SINGH LAMBA ETC. ETC.
Avril 15. 1976
[Y. V. CHANDRACHUD, V, R. KRISHNA IYER AND N. L. UNTWALIA, JJ.]
B
Quorun1-Fixing a quo'rum of 2 members in a committee of 3, does not
·warrant all the three must be vresent for validity of any action of the committee
-Punjab University Calendar, 1973, Vol. 11--RegultNions 31 and 32.1-lnter-'
pretatidn of.
Regulations 31 and 32.l of the Punjab University Calendar 1973, Volume II
are as under :
·
'
C
"31. The Syndicate shall appoint annually a standing committee to
deal with cases of the alleged misconduct and use of unfair means in
connection with examinations;
32.1. When the committee is unanimous, its decision shall be final
except as provided in S. 32.2. If the Committee is not unanimous,
the matter shall be referred to the Vice-Chancellor who shall either
.:lecide the matter himself or refer it to the Syndicate for decision".
D
By virtue of the powers vested in the syndicate, the Punjab University
appointed a standing committee under Regulation 31 consisting of a retired
high court judge, an Advocate who was formerly a minister of State of
Punjab & the Registrar of the University, It also resolved, by its Resolutioh
date-d 17th August 1971, that two members shall form the quorum for the.
meetings of the standing committee appointed under Regulation 31. For
adopting unfair practices in the examination, respondents were disqualified by
the Committee, in all the sittings of which. only two out of the three members were present. The respondents contended by their writ petitions that the
decisions of the Standing Committee were without jurisdiction in as much as
all the three members of the Standing Committee had not taken part in the
meetings in \Vhich the decisions to disqualify them were taken.
By a majority
of 2 to 1, the High Court set aside the decisions taking the view that despite
the c:rcumstance that two members of the committee formed the quorum, the
impugned decisions were vitiated by the fact that only 2 and not all the 3
n1embers of the committee participated in the proceedings.
Allowing the appeals by certificate, the Court,
HELD : (1) The Constitution of the Standing Committee is indisputably
\Vithin the powers of the Syndicate under Regulation 31.
The Syndicate which
had the power to appoint the Standing Committee had the incidental power to
fix the quorum for the meetings of the Standing Committee. 'Quorum' denotes the minimum number of members of any body of persons whose presence
is necessary in order to enable that body to transact its business validly so
that its acts mav be lawful. It is wholly inappropriate to draw on the Constitution of judiciil tribunals as a parallel. In the ~tant cas~, the syndicate by
non1inating 3 persons to be members of the Standing Comm~ttee, but by resolving that 2 of them would validly constit~te the st~nding committee, did no
more than provide that though the Standmg Committee may be composed of
3 persons, any 2 of them could validly and effectively transact the bu.sines< of'
and oh behalf of the Committee. [70 &F, 71-A-CJ
(ii) By the quorum, a minimum number of members of the committee
mnst be present in order that its proceedings ll!ay be lawful,
~ut that d~s
not mean that more than the minimu!ll. are denied an opportunity to ~arhc1pate in the delibeTations and the dec1s1on 1 of the committee. There is
no
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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
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warrant for the hypothesis that had the third member attended the meetings
be would have dissented from the decision of the 2 other members so as to
necessitate a reference to the Vice Chancellor under Regulation 32.1. [71 F-G72-AB]
(iii) When Regulation 32.1 speaks of the committee being unanimous, it
refers to the unanimity of the members who for the time being are sitting on
the committee and who, by forn;tin21 the quorum can validly ind lawfully discharge the functions of the Committee. The fixation of quorum neither makes
Regulation 32.1 a dead letter nor does it affect its ~pplication or utility. The
fixation of quorum by the Syndicate violates neither the letter nor the spirit
of that Regulation.
[72 C-D, E, F]
(iv) Regulation 32.1 is aimed at conferring finality on decisions of the
comn1ittee if they are unanimous and at leaving the validity and: priority of a
disSenting decision to the judgment of the Vice-Chnncellor who can deal with
the matter himself or refer it to the decision of the Syndicate. Regulation
32.1 does not eveh remotely attempt tQ fix the quorum. That i:,
not
its
purpose, and it sounds strange that the Regulation, by a circuitous method,
should fix the quorum at the full complement of n1embers.
Quorums are
seldom so fixed and were it intended that the entire committee must decide
every case, ~egulation 31 could appropriately have said so.
[72 G-H, 73 Al
It is quite true that judicial consistency is not the highest state of legal
bliss. Law must grow, it canhot afford to a static and therefore, judQ.Cs. ought
to en1ploy an intelligent teclinique in the use of precedents. But the language
of the Regulations called for no review of established precedents. Nor indeed
is there any fear of unfairness if only 2 members decided the cases of students
accused of adopting unfair practices in the examinations. In such cases, it is
so much, better that the law is certain.
[73 C.D, El
Bharat Jndu v. The Punjab Umversity & Anr. !LR [1967] 2 Punjab & Haryana 198; Miss Maniinder Kaur v. The Pun;ab University (Civil Writ No. 35161
72 dt 30-3-1973 decided by the Punjab High Court (approved).
CIVIL APPELLATE ]URISDICTION: Civil Appeals Nos. 1121-1125
of 1975.
From the Judgment and Order dated the 31st March 1975 of the
Punjab and Haryana High Court in Civil Writ Petition Nos. 5948,
6115, 6736, 6779 and 6780 of 1974.
Hardev Singh and R. S. Sodhi for the Appellant.
S. K. Bagga and (Mrs.) S. Bagga for Sole Respondent in CA 1121
R-1 in CAs. 1122-1125/75.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
CHANDRACHUD, J.-These appeals arise out of a decision rendered by a Full Bench of the Punjab High Court in various writ petitions
filed by the students of the Punjab University, who were disqualified
for adopting unfair practices in the examinations. Most of them
had copied from a common source.
By a majority of 2 to 1, the
High Court by its Judgment dated March 31, 1975 set aside
the
decisions of a Committee appointed to inquire into the cha~es against
the erring students. The judgment of the majority rests solely on. the
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l!UNJAB UNIVERSITY v. v. s. LAMBA.·(Chandrachud, !.)
69
view that despite the circumstance that two members of the ComA
mittee formed the quorum the impunged decisions were vitiated by
. the fact that only 2 and not all the 3 members of the Committee participllted in the proceedings. Aggrieved by the majority judgment of
the High Court, the Punjab University, Chandigarh, has filed these
appeals by a certificate granted by the High Court on the ground that
the appeals involve a substantial question of law of general impor-
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lance which requires to be determined by this Co!llt.
The respondents to these appeals were detected in the use
of
unfair means by the supervisory staff at different examinations held
by the Punjab University. The Deputy Registrar of the· University
issued notices to the respondents calling upon them to submit their
replies to a questionnaire. Respondents denied having used unfair
means in the e;i:aminations but their explanation having been found to
be unsatisfactory, the charges were referred for inquiry and decision
to the Standing Committee which was appointed to deal with cases
of misconduct and use of unfair means at the University examinations.
The Standing Committee consisted of Shri G. L. Chopra, a retired
Judge of the High Court, Shri Ajmer Singh, an advocate· who
was
formerly a Minister of the Punjab Government, and Shri Jagjit Singh,
th~ Registrar of the University. The Standing Committee
was appointed by the· Syndicate of the University under Regulation 31 of
the Punjab University Calender, 1973, Volume II. In a meeting dated
August 17, -1971 the Syndicate passed a Resolution that two members
shall form the quorum for the meetings of the Standing Committee
appointed under Regulation 31. In everyone of the meetings, only two
out of the three members of the Standing Committee were present.
Respondents appeared before the Standing Committe.e which, on
a consideration of their statements came to the unanimous conclusion
that the respondents had adopted unfair means in the examinations.
By the impugned decisions . they were disqualified for varYing terms.
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It is not alleged that the Standing Committee had committed breach
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of any of the procedural provisions or of the rules of natural justice.
We may also mention in passing that none of the respondents took
any objection duril\g the inqniry that it was not competent to only two
members of the Standing Committee to inquire into the ~barges. Before the High Court also, the sole ,ground on which the decisions of
the Standing Committee were challeI1ged was that the d.ecisions were
without jurisdiction inasmuch as, all the three members of the Standing
G
Committee hacl not taken part in the meetings in which the decision
to disqualify the respondents was taken.
The Punjab University, Chandigarh, was set l!P under the East
Punjab Ordinance 1947, which was later replaced by the Punjab University Act, 194 7.
By section 8 of the Act the supreme authority
of the University vests in the Senate consisting of the Chancellor, the
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Vice-Chancellor, ex-officio Fellows and Ordinary Fellows.
Section
11 (2) of the Act provides inter alia that the Senate shall exercise its
powers in accordance with the statutes, rules and regulations for the
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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
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A
time being in force.
Section 20 of the Act provides that the Executive
Government of the University shall vest in the Syndicate consisting of
the Vice-Chancellor as Chairman, the Directors of Public Instruction
Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, the Director of Education, Himachal Pradesh, and not less than 12 or more than 15 ex-officio
or
ordinary Fellows decte<l by various Faculties.
Section 31 (1) of the
Act provides for the framing of Regulations and states that the Senate,
B · with the sanction of the Government, may from time to time make
regulations consistent with the Act for providing for all matters relating to the University.
Section 31(2) enumerates matters regarding
which regulations can be made and they include the conduct
of
students, the procedure to be followed at meetings of the Senate,
Syndicate and Faculties and the quorum of members to be required
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for the transaction of business.
Acting wtder the power conferred
by section 31, the Senate of the Punjab University framed regulations
in consultation with the Government, which include regulations relating to the use of unfair means in exanrinations.
These regulations
are contained in Chapter II of the Punjab University Calendar, 1973,
Volome II.
The decision of these appeals turns on the construction and meaning of regulations 31 and 32.1 of Chapter II which read thus:-
"31. The Syndicate shall appoint annually a Standing
Committee to deal with cases of the alleged misconduct and
use of unfair means in connection with examinations;
32.1. When the Committee is unanimous, its
decision
shall be final except as provided in 32.2.- If the Committee is
not unanimous the matter shall be referred to the
ViceChancellor who shall either decide the matter himself or refer
it to the Syndicate for decision".
The constitution of the Standing Committee is indisputably within
the powers of the Syndicate under Regulation 31. No exception can
therefore be taken to the appointment of the Standing Committee by
the Syndicate and indeed no objection was at any stage taken in that
behalf.
Equally clear seems to us the position that the Syndicate
which had the power to appoint the Standing Committee nad the incidental power to fix the quorum for the meetings of the Standing
Committee.
'Quorum' denotes the minimum number of 1fiembers of
any body of persons whose presence is necessary in order to enable
that body to transact its business validly so that its acts may be lawful.
It is generally left fo committees themselves to fix the quorum
for their meetings and perhaps, if the Syndicate had not fixed the
quorum it might have been competent to the Standing Committee
itself to devise its day-to-day procedure including the fixation
of
quorum.
But that is going one step ahead, for here the quorum was
fixed not by the Standlng Committee bnt by the Syndicate itself which
appointed the Standing Committee and which indubitably had
the
right to appoint the Committee -under Regulation 31. We are unable to see any valid reason for which the fixation of quorum for the
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PUNJAB UNIVERSITY v. Y. s. LAMBA (Chandrachud, !.)
71
meetings of a Committee appointed by the Syndicate can be said to
be beyond the powers of the Syndicate.
It is wholly inappropriate in
this connection to draw on the constitution of judicial tribunals as a
parallel because, if by law such a tribunal must consist of 3 members
there is no jurisdiciion in the tribunal to fix a smaller quorum for its
sittings.
A court is not a committee and if by law any matter is required to be heard, say by a bench of three Judges, there is no power
in those three Judges to resolve that only two of them Will form
a
quorum. In facl, quorum is fixed for meetings of committees and not
for the sittings of courts. In the instant case the Syndicate had the
right to fix the number of persons who would constitute the Standing
Committee and by fixing the quorum at 2, it did no more than provide
that though the Standing Committee may be composed of 3 persons,
any 2 of them could validly and effectively transact the business of
and on behalf 01' the committee.
Putting the matter a little differently,
the Syndicate nominated 3 persons to be members of the Standing
Committee but resolved that any 2 of them would validly constitute
the StandiQg Committee for the time being to dispose of any business
which comes before it.
Great reliance was placed by the respondents both in the High
Court and before us on Regulation 32.1 which we have setout above,
in support of the contention that the decision ·of the Standing Committee was without jurisdiction since all. the members of the Committee had not participated in the various decisions.
By Regnlation 32.1, if the Standing Committee is unanimous in its decision, the
decision is final except as provided in Regulation 32.2; if the committee js not unanimous, the matter has to be referred to the ViceChancellor who can either decide the matter himself or refer it to the
Syndicate for its decision. It is urged on behalf of the· respondents
that the possible dissent of the 3rd member, were he present, would
have necessitated a reference to the Vice-Chancellor who might not
agree with the majority opinion, which shows that no sanctity can
attach to a decision rendered by less than the whole body of 3 members of the Standing Committee.
This argnment is purely hypothetical
and besides, it overlooks- that the fixation of quorum for the meetings
of a committee does not preclude all the members of the committee
from attending the meetings.
By the quorum, a minimum number of
the committee must be present in order that its proceedings may be lawful but that does not mean that more than the minimum are denied an
opportunity to participate in the deliberations and the decisions of the
committee.
Whenever a committee is scheduled to meet, due notice
of the meetings has to go to all the members of the committee and it is
left to each individual member whether or not to attend a particular
meeting.
Every member has thus the choice and the opportunity to
attend every m"-eting of the committee. If any member considers the
matter which is to be discussed or determined in a particular meeting
as of such importance that he must make his voice heard and cast his
vote, it is open to him and indeed he is entitled to attend the meeting
and make his presence felt. • Though a faint attempt was made in
these appeals for the first time to suggest that the notice of the meetings
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of the Standing Committee was not served on all the 3 members
of the c6mlllittee we are satisfied that such a notice was in fact given
·and someone or the other of the 3 members chose to remain absent at
the meeiings of the Standing Committee.
There is, therefore,
no
warrant for the hypothesis that had the third member attended the
meetings he would have dissented from the decision of the 2 other
members so as to necessitate a 1eference to the Vice-Chancellor under
Regulation 32.1.
Apart from this consideration, we are unable to agree that anything contained in Regulation 32.1 can affect the power of the Syndicate to fix the quorum for the meetings of the Standing Committee.
If the quorum consists of 2 members, auy 2 out of the 3 members can
perform the functions of the Standing Committee, though the committee may be composed of 3 members.
When
Regulation
32.1
speaks of the committee being unanimous, it refers to the unanimity
of the members who for the time being are sitting as the committee
and who, by forming the quorum can validly and lawfully discharge
the fu'nctiQns of the committee and transact all business on behalf of
the committee. If only 2 members out of the 3 who compose the
Standing Committee have participated in the business of any particular
meeting, the question to ask under Regulation 32.1 is whether there
is unanimity amongst those two members. If they are unanimous
their decision is final. If they differ, the matter has to be referred to
the Vice-Chancellor.
Thus, the fixation of quorum neither makes
Regulation 32.1 a dead letter nor does it affect its application or
utility.
With respect, we are unable to appreciate the reasoning of
the m~jority that "The manner in which Regulation 32.1 has been
framed ]eaves no doubt that the consideration of the question of
students' misconduct and the use of unfair means in examination by
them bas been placed at a high pedestal" and that therefore "there is
no escape from the conclusion that the consideration of tl)e case of
a student against whom there are allegations of rnisconduCl or of use
unfair means in an examination, has to be by all the members of the
.Standing Committee and not by some of them and that any decision
of the Syndicate to the contrary would he violative of the letter and
spirit of Regulation 32.1." The fixation of quorum by the Syndicate
violates neither the letter nor the spirit of that Regulation.
The majority Judges were therefore in error in holding that Regulation 32.1 "clearly negatives the fixation of a quorum and makes it
incumbent that the decision must be taken by the full Committee" for
thei reason that "In a way, this regulation fixes the quorum at
the
number of members originally appointed".
The learned Tudges read
far more into Regulation 32.1 than there is in it and we see no warrant
for construing that regulation ,as fixing the quorum at the number
of mem.bers originally appointed· to the committee.
Regulation 32.1
is aimed at conferring finally on decision of the committee if they
are unanimous and at leaving the validity and propriety of a dissenting decision to the judgment of the Vice-Chancellor who can
deal with the matter himself or refer it to the decision of the Syndicate.
Regulation 32.1 does not even remotely attempt to fix
the
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PUNJAB UNIV:RSITY v. v. s. LAMBA (Chandrachud, /.)
73
quorum.
That is not its purpose, and it sounds strange that
the
A.
Regulation, by a circuitous method, should fix the quorum at the
full complement of members.
Quorums are seldom so fixed and
were it intended that the entire committee must decide every case,
Regulation 31 could appropriately have said so.
We share the deep concern voiced in the dissenting opinion of
Sandhawalia J. that there was no justification for ignoring
tl\e
stream of precedents which had consistently recognised ibe validity
of decisions taken by 2 members of the Standing Committee.
In
Bharat lndu v. The Punjab University and an!Jther('), Regulation
19 which was the precursor of and was identical with Regulation
32.! came before the Punjab High Court.
By a closely considered
judgment, Dua J. ¥iho spoke for the Bench specifically rejected the
argument accepted
by the two learned Judges in the instant case.
In Miss Manjinder Kaur v. The
Punjab
University
(Civil
Writ
No. 3516 of 1972, decided on March 30, 1973), the same contention was repeated on behalf of the students and once again it was considered and rejected. It is quite true that judicial consistency is not
the highest state oi legal bliss.
Law must grow, it caonot afford to
be static and theretore Judges ought to employ an intelligent technique
in the use of precedents.
Precedents, as observed by Lord Macmillan,
should be "stepping stones and not halting places".(')
But, Justice
Cardozo's caution should not go unheeded that the weekly change in
the composition of the court ought not to be accompanied by changes
in its rulings.
The language of the Regulations called for no .review
of established precedents.
Nor indeed is there any fear of unfairness
i[ only 2 members decided the cases of students accused of adopting
unfair practices in the examinations. In such cases it is so much better that the Jaw is certain.
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In the result we allow the appeals, set aside the decision of the
majority and uphold that of the minority Judge.
The writ petitions
filed by the respondents. will consequently stand dismissed but there
will be no order as to costs.
F·
S.R.
(I) I. L. R. (1967) 2 Punjab & Haryana 198.
(2) Birch v. Brown [1931] A. C. 631.
Appeal allowed ..