# THE BOARD OF HIGH SCHOOL & INTERMEDIATE EDUCATION U. P v. BAGLESHWAR PRASAD & OTHERS

- **Citation:** [1963] 3 S.C.R. 767
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1961-09-04
- **Case number:** Civil Appeal No. 328 of 1962
- **Bench:** P. B. Gajendragadkar, K. C. Das GUPTA, Raghubar Dayal
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/the-board-of-high-school-intermediate-education-u-p-v-bagleshwar-prasad-others-2671
- **Pages:** 11

## Headnote

Domestic Tribunal-Educational body-DiBciplinary action
-Interference by High Gourt-OonBtitution of India, Art.226. .
The appellant Board cancelled the declaration of the
result of the respondent in the High School . Certificate
Examination held in 1960 accepting the findings of the subcommittee appointed by it to enquire into the charges made
against the respondent and another candidate of having used
unfair means in answering the English, Mathematics and
Hindi papers. The charges were based upon the fact that in
the Hindi 3rd paper sot at the said examination, the respon·
dent gave wrong answers to Question No. 4 in precisely the
same form in which the answers had been given by the
candidate whose Roll number was consecutive with that of
the respondent. The High Court interpreting the charge as
confined to that the respondent had copied either from the
answer book of the candidate bearing the consecutive Roll
Number or from a common source held that the findings of
the enquiry committee were based on no evidence and quashed
the cancellation of the result. On appeal by special leave.
Held, that in the circumstances of the case, the identity
of the wrong answers given by the respondent with that of
the other candidate bearing the consecutive Roll Number
rendered the charge of the respondent having employed
unfair means highly probable and that the findings of the
enquiry committee based upon such probabilities and circumstantial evidence could not be said to be based on no evidence
as in such matters direct evidence quite often cannot be
available.
Held, futher, that in dealing with cases like those of
..., educational institutions dealing with matters of discipline
like employing unfair means, the problem faced by the
educational institutions should be appreciated by the High
Court and so long as the enquiry held is fair and affords the
candidate an opportunity to defend himself, the matter should
A"lust 27
...
\
1962
/J1ard •J
llith School k
I rittrmediat1
Etuc•tion U.P .
••
Bsgleahwar P1a1ad
768
SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1963J
not be examined with the same strictness as applicable to
criminal trials in the ordinary courts of law.
·
C:rv1L APPELLATE JuRISDICTION: Civil Appeal
No. 328 of 1962 ..
Appeal by special leave from the judgment
and order dated September 4, 1961, of the Allahabad
High Court in Civil Misc. writ No. 3469 of 1960.
K. L. Misra, Advocate-General for the State of
U. P., 0. B. Agarwala, K. 8. Hajela and 0. P. Lal,
for the appellants.
8. P: Sinha and M. I. Klwwaja, for respondent
No. 1.
~
1962. August 27. The Judgement of the Court
was delivered by
GoJ•ndragadka• J.
GAJENDRAGADKAR, J.-This appeal by special
leave arises out of a Writ Petition filed by the
respondent Bagleshwar Prasad against the Board
of High School and Intermediate Education, U. P.,
.~
Allahabad, and its Secretary, appellants 1 & 2, and·
another. By his petition, tp.e respondent challenged the validity of the order passed by appellant
No. 1 on December 5, 1960, cancelling the respondent's result at the High School Exmination held
in 1960. It appears that the respondent appeared
for tho said examination from the Nehru Intermediate College Centre, Bindki. He was declared '<:"'
to have passed the said examination in the II Division with distinction in Art. Thereafter, he joined
Intermediate first year class in the Kulbaskar
Ashram Agriculture College at Allahabad. On the
3rd September, 1960, he received a letter from
the Principal, Adarsh Higher Seconda.ry School,
Kora Jahanabad, from where he had appeared for.,.
the High School examination, calling upon him to
appear before a :Sub-Committee to answer the
charge of having used unfair means in English,
f..
...
3 S.C.R.
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
769
Mathematics and Hindi papers. Accordingly, he
appeared before the said Sub-Committee. A charge
was given to him and his explanation was obtained
on the said charge. This che.rge was based on the
fact that in Hindi 3rd paper set at the said ex'l.mination, the

## Text

~ s.c.:tt.
SUPREME CoURT REPORTS
THE BOARD OF HIGH SCHOOL & INTERMEDIATE EDUCATION U. P.
v.
BAGLESHWAR PRASAD & OTHERS
(P. B. GAJENDRAGADKAR, K. C. Das GUPTA, and
RAGHUBAR DAYAL, JJ.)
Domestic Tribunal-Educational body-DiBciplinary action
-Interference by High Gourt-OonBtitution of India, Art.226. .
The appellant Board cancelled the declaration of the
result of the respondent in the High School . Certificate
Examination held in 1960 accepting the findings of the subcommittee appointed by it to enquire into the charges made
against the respondent and another candidate of having used
unfair means in answering the English, Mathematics and
Hindi papers. The charges were based upon the fact that in
the Hindi 3rd paper sot at the said examination, the respon·
dent gave wrong answers to Question No. 4 in precisely the
same form in which the answers had been given by the
candidate whose Roll number was consecutive with that of
the respondent. The High Court interpreting the charge as
confined to that the respondent had copied either from the
answer book of the candidate bearing the consecutive Roll
Number or from a common source held that the findings of
the enquiry committee were based on no evidence and quashed
the cancellation of the result. On appeal by special leave.
Held, that in the circumstances of the case, the identity
of the wrong answers given by the respondent with that of
the other candidate bearing the consecutive Roll Number
rendered the charge of the respondent having employed
unfair means highly probable and that the findings of the
enquiry committee based upon such probabilities and circumstantial evidence could not be said to be based on no evidence
as in such matters direct evidence quite often cannot be
available.
Held, futher, that in dealing with cases like those of
..., educational institutions dealing with matters of discipline
like employing unfair means, the problem faced by the
educational institutions should be appreciated by the High
Court and so long as the enquiry held is fair and affords the
candidate an opportunity to defend himself, the matter should
A"lust 27
...
\
1962
/J1ard •J
llith School k
I rittrmediat1
Etuc•tion U.P .
••
Bsgleahwar P1a1ad
768
SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1963J
not be examined with the same strictness as applicable to
criminal trials in the ordinary courts of law.
·
C:rv1L APPELLATE JuRISDICTION: Civil Appeal
No. 328 of 1962 ..
Appeal by special leave from the judgment
and order dated September 4, 1961, of the Allahabad
High Court in Civil Misc. writ No. 3469 of 1960.
K. L. Misra, Advocate-General for the State of
U. P., 0. B. Agarwala, K. 8. Hajela and 0. P. Lal,
for the appellants.
8. P: Sinha and M. I. Klwwaja, for respondent
No. 1.
~
1962. August 27. The Judgement of the Court
was delivered by
GoJ•ndragadka• J.
GAJENDRAGADKAR, J.-This appeal by special
leave arises out of a Writ Petition filed by the
respondent Bagleshwar Prasad against the Board
of High School and Intermediate Education, U. P.,
.~
Allahabad, and its Secretary, appellants 1 & 2, and·
another. By his petition, tp.e respondent challenged the validity of the order passed by appellant
No. 1 on December 5, 1960, cancelling the respondent's result at the High School Exmination held
in 1960. It appears that the respondent appeared
for tho said examination from the Nehru Intermediate College Centre, Bindki. He was declared '<:"'
to have passed the said examination in the II Division with distinction in Art. Thereafter, he joined
Intermediate first year class in the Kulbaskar
Ashram Agriculture College at Allahabad. On the
3rd September, 1960, he received a letter from
the Principal, Adarsh Higher Seconda.ry School,
Kora Jahanabad, from where he had appeared for.,.
the High School examination, calling upon him to
appear before a :Sub-Committee to answer the
charge of having used unfair means in English,
f..
...
3 S.C.R.
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
769
Mathematics and Hindi papers. Accordingly, he
appeared before the said Sub-Committee. A charge
was given to him and his explanation was obtained
on the said charge. This che.rge was based on the
fact that in Hindi 3rd paper set at the said ex'l.mination, the respondent had given wrong answers to
Question No. 4 in precisely the same f•>rm in which
the said answers had been given by a candidate
whose Roll No. was 9!733. The respondent's Roll
No. was 91734. The respondent was shown the
identical wrong answers to the said Question which
were found in the two papers, and he was asked
to
expla.in about
the said
identity
of the
wrong answers.
He admitted thaii the wrong
answers appeared to .be identical, but he denied that
he had used any unfair means. The Sub-Committee
however, was not satisfieu with the explanation and
reported that both the respondent and the candidate
whose Roll No. was 94:733 had used unfair means.
As a ri:isult of the report ma.de by the Sub-Committee, the first appellant passed an order C>tncelling the results of both the candidates.
Both the
said candidates disputed the val;dity of the said
order in the Allahabad High Court. The petition
filed by the candidate whose Roll No. was 94733
was dismissed, but that of the respondent was allo.
wed, and the impugned order passed by appellant
No.l oancelpng the result of the respondent in the
High School examinaton for 1960, has been set
aside. It is .against this order that the appellants
have.come to this Court by special leave.
From the petition filed by the respondent in
the High Court (W. P. No. 3469 of 1960) it appears that he challenged the validity of the impugned
order on several grounds. The principal contentions
raised by the petitioner a.gains t the competence
and the authority of appellant No.l and against
the regularity and fairness of the enquiry held,
arose for decision before the High Court in the
Qompanion W. P. No. 3196 of 1960 also. The High
.
.
Boa;iof
High School and ·
Intarmedia'ei.
Eduo>tion·'U. p::.,
v ,
B.igleshiiJa;.Pia.-i··t:\.
G •Jendra~ 24/(ftr J . ,
-.--
Buardof
lllgh School and
lni.111,.diat 1
Bdut11ion U.P.
v.
81gl1s'*'a.J Pra~ad
G~'"'"':adtar J.
770
SYPREME COURT REPOR'l'S [1963]
Court rejected the said contentions of law in that
W. P. and for the reasons recorded in the judgment
in that
petition,
the said contentions were
rejected even in the present petition. Thus, the
challenge to the validity of the order made on points
of law was not sustained.
The High Ci;mrt then proceeded to examine
the narrow ground of attack against the validity
of the order which was made on the basis that the
impugned order was not supported by any evidence
at all. It appears from the judgment of the High
Court that the High court was inclined to accept this
argument and it has set aside the order on the
ground that it is not supported by. any evidence.
The correctness of this finding is seriously disputed
before us by the learned Advocate:General who
appears for the appellants.
It is common ground that the proceedings
taken against the respondent in respect of the
unfair means alleged to have been adopted by him
at the examination, are in the nature of quasi-judicial proceedings, and as such, in a proper case,
orders •passed as a result of the said proceedings
would be liable to be challenged under Art.226 of
the Constitution. It is also common ground that
the High Court would be justified in quashing the
impugned order if it is satisfied that the said order
is not based. on any evidence at all. An order passed
by a Tribunal holding a quasi-judicial enquiry
which i~ not supported by any evidence, is an order
which is erroneous on the face of it and as such,
id liable to be quashed by the High Court in exercise
of its high prerogative jurisdiction to issue a writ
under Art. 226.
In the present case, the High Court has found
that the conclusion of the enquiry Committee that
the respondent had copied either from the answer
book of tqe candidate bearing Roll ~o.94'13~ oi;
•. ,
3 S.C.R.
SUPREME COURT REPOR 1'S
7ll
from a oommon source, was not supported by any
evidence. In coming to this conclusion, the High
Court has assumad that the charge against the respondent was that he had copied from the candidate bearing Roll No. 94733. Having made this
assumption, the High Court has observed that there
was no charge against the respondent that he connived in the act of copying by the other candidate
from his answer-book, audit has added that there
is no evidence in proof of such connivance. The
High Court has also stated that no evidence had
been shown to justify the allegations that any outsider had helped the candidate, including the respondent, That, in brief, is the genesis of the
final conclusion of the High Court.
It appears that the High Court was in error
in assuming that the only charge against the respondent w11.s that he had copied from the paper of
the cadidate bearing Roll No. 94733 and this error
is basically responsible for the other observations
made by the High Court. The translation of
the charge as it has been printed in the record
before us, no doubt, seems to support the assumption
made by the High
Cour:; in regard · to
· the nature of the charge. But the charge was framed
in Hindi and it is common ground b~fore us that
the Hindi charge has not been. properly translated
from the record when it seems to show that what was
alleged against the respo,ndent was only that he had
copied out from candidate bearing Roll No. 94733.
The.chll.rge, in terms, was that having regard to.
the idtintity of the mistaken answers, the apprehension was that there had been copying, and that
is very different from saying that the only charge
was that the respondent had copied from the other
candidate. This position is made very clear when
we consider the explanation given by the responqeQt. In I:iis
explanation, the resllondent had
196i
Bfl(Jirdof
High s.hool &
lnt,,m1diaC.
Edu<alion U:P.
v.
Bagl,,hwar P1ased
Gajendragad!ar-J,
191111
Board of
iligh Sci.ool di
lnlnme<Jiate
Educa.lion U.P .
••
Bqg! e"1wtir PrasaJ
•
772
SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1963)
stated that he had not copied out from the answer.
book of any candidate, nor had he allowed anyone
to copy out from his answer-book, so far as he
could.
He admitted that the mistaken answers
in the two papers were identical and he pleaded
that he could not say any thing as to why this
happened. He was also asked whether he had got
any help from outside and he gave an answer in
the negative. It would thus be seen that at the
enquiry, the charge against the respondent was,
either that he copied from candidate bearing Roll
No. 94733, or that he connived at the said candidate copying from his answer-book, or that both of
them had copied from a common source. In
either case, it would amount to the adoption, of
unfair means. Therefore, in our opinion, the High
Court was in error in assuming that the charge
was very narrow and did not include the two other
alternatives on which the adoption of unfair means
was sought to be established.
There is
another
circumstance which is
relevant and significant and that has been ignored
by the High Court in dealing with this petition.
It appears that at the examination held at Bindki
Centre, unfair means wer11 adopted on a very large
scale by a large number of students and the exami·
nation
appears to have been conducted in an
atmosphere which was not at all congenial to the
enforcement . of the discipline which has to be
ovserved in conducting examinations. It appears
that there are rivalries and party politics in,the
Municipal Board of Bindki that runs the institution at which this exanination was held, and there
are rivalries and party politics even amongst the
members of the staff. The members of the Municipal Board and other
influential people of the
locality bring undue pressure on the Principal and
the Invi$ilators to help their warqs or tile warqs
3 S.C.R.
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
773
of their friends and relatives in the Board's Examination. As a result of this unhealthy atmosphere,
the Centre at Bindki for High Sohool examination
had been abolished for some years, but on account
of public pressure it was re-started in 1960, and
the result was very unfortunate.
It also appears that on the day of English
paper, while students were answering the paper in
Room No. 3, an answer paper by some outsider was
dropped into the room 15 minutes before the time
to answer"' questions
was over. This paper was
thrown in room No. 3 from room No. 18. It was a
typed paper giving answers to all the Questions. The
Assistant teacher, Khajuha, who was one of the
Invigilators, complained that the Parcha was typed
in the office of the Superintendent of the Centre,
but this allegation was denied. Indeed, from the
reports made by the invigilators and the findings
made by the Enquiry Committee, it appears that
the Invigilators themselves were so much frightened by the prevailing rowdyism and by pressure
from influential people that they found themselves
powerless to maintain discipline in thE! examination
hall. It is, therefore, not surprising that some invigilators could not prevent copying and in fact,
six of them had to be warned to be careful in
future.
The report· of the enquiry committee also
shows that the complaints which they were to
investigate referred to copying on a large scale in
several papers besides Hindi, and it is after exa·
mining all the complaints in the light of the evidence available to them that the Committee made
its final report; and in that report, it held that the
respondent and candidate bearing Roll No. 94733
were guilt,! of having used unfair μieans,
1901'
Board.of:
High S.:hool &: ·
lnterm1diare
·
Edut:alion U~P~· ·,
Vo
11.agt,.!npar i'10~a4
Bo"rdof
H;gh SohMJI &>
lnl1rm1diote
Educ1tion U.P.
••
Bag/eshwar Pro.aad
774
SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1963)
In dealing with the question as to whether
the Committ<;ie was justified in coming to this con·
clusion against the respondent, it would not be
reasonable to exclude from consideration the circumstances under which the whole enquiry came
to be held and the general background of the pre·
vailing disturbed and riotous atmosphere in the
Examination Hall during the d11.ys that the High
School Examination was held at the Centre in
1960. Unfortunately, the High Court has ignored
this background altogether.
Before the High Court, a statement was filei
showing the seating arrangement in Room No. 10
where the respondent was sitting fm· writing his
answers.
It appears that he was No. 3 in the
3rd row,
whereas the
other
candidate with
Roll No.
94733
was No. 4 in the second
row. The High Court was very much impressed
by the
fact that the
respondent could not
have looked back and copied from the answer·
book of the other candidate, and the High Court
did not think that there was any evidence to show
that ~he other candidate could have copied from
the respondents paper with his connivance. We
have looked at the incorrect answers ourselves and
we are not prepared to hold that tha idtontical
incorrect answers were given by the two candidates
either by accident or by coincidence. Some of the
incorrect answers, and, particularly, the manner in
which they have been given, clearly sugg~st that
they were the result of either one candidate copying
from the other, or both candidates copying from a
common source. The significance of this fact has
been completely missed. by the High Court. The
question before the Enquiry Committee had to be
decided by it in the light of the nature of the
incorrect answers themselves, and that is what the
Enquhy Committee has done,
Tt would, we think,
·-
••
....
3 S.C.R.
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
775
be inappropriate in such a case to require direct
evidence to show that the respondent could have
looked back and copied from the answer written by
the other candidate who was sitting behind him.
There was still the alterantive possibility that the
candidate sitting behind may have copied from the
respondent with his connivance. It is also not
unlikely that the two candidates may have talked
to ea.ch other. The atmosphere prevailing in the
Examination Hall does not rule out this possibility.
These are a~l matters which the Enquiry Committee
had to consider, and the fact that the Enquiry
Committee did not write an elaborate report, does
not mean that it did not consider all the relevant
facts before it came to the conclusion that the
respondent had used unfair means.
.
In dealing with petitions of this type, it is
necessary to bear in mind that educational institut·
ions like the Universities or appellant No. 1 set up
Enquiry Committees to deal with the problem posed
by the adoption of unfair means by candidates; and
normally it is within the jurisdiction of such domestic l'ribunals to decide all relevant questions
in the light of the evidence adduced before them. In
the matter of the 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 educational institutions have to face
from time to time is a serious problem and unless
there is justification to do so, cour.ts should be slow
to jnterfere with the decisions of domestic Tribunals
appointed by educational bodies like the Univerii·
ties. In dealing with the validity of the impugned
orders passed bJ Univeraities under Art. 226, the
High Court is not sitting in appeal over the decision
in question; its jurisqiotiol! is li~ited aqd though
'
:
.
-
1962
Board of
High School c6
Intermediate ·
Education U.P.
\I.
•
Bagleshwar Prf!sad
G;ij~ndrc gadkar J.
1942
Board oj.
High Scio•I &>
Intermediate
Education 'U .P.
v.1
Baale•hwar P1asaa,
•
776
SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1963J
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 eupported by
any evidence must be reached after considering the
question as to whether probabilities and circumstantial evidence do not justify the said conclusion.
Enquiries held by domestic Tribunals in such cases
must, no doubt, be fair and students against whom
charges are framed must be given adequate opportunities to defend themselves, and in holding such
enquiries, the Tribunal, must scrupulously follow
rules of natural justice; but it would, we think, not
be reason& hie to import into these
enquiries all
considerations which govern criminal trials in ordinary courts of law. In the present case, no animus
is suggested and no malafides have been pleaded.
1The enquiry has been fair and the respondent has
had an opportunity of making his defence. That
being so, we think the High Court was not justified
in interfering with the order passed against the
resprmdent.
We ought, however, to add that though we
are inclined to accept the argument raised by the
learned Advo.cate-General against the decision of
the High Court, we do not propose , to make any
consequential order is favour of the appellants,
because the learned Advocate-General has fairly
conceded that he does not want any such order in
the present appeal. It appears that the respondent
has, in June, 1962, passed his Intermediate Examination and it has been fairly conceded that there
is no intention to disturb his career under the present circumstances. The learned Advocate·General
wanted a decision from us in this appeal because he
apprehended that the reasoning adopted by the
High Court in setting aside the order passed against
the responde11t may be
construed to me11in
that
f
...
3 s.c.:R.
SUPREME dOUR'i' R~POR'l'S
777
under Art. 226, the High Court can exami~e the
merits of the order passed by appellant No. Im such
cases.
Beard of
1!I iltfi SchtJOI &.
/nlmntdi.te
Etl111Jatitm U.P.
v.
The result is though we agree with the appellants that the orde; passed by the. H~gh ~ourt was
not justified, we refrain from settmg it aside for the
reasons just explained. There would be no o~der
as to costs.
Bt1gleshwar Prasai
-~-
THE CEMENT MARKETING CO., OF INDIA
LTD. AND ANOTHER
v.
THE STATE OF MYSORE AND ANOTHER
(S. K, DAS, J. L. KAPUR, A. K. SARKAR, M.
HIDAYATULLAH and RAGHU:SAR DAYAL, JJ.)
Sales Tax-Sale of goods-Transactions involving move·
ment of goods across the border from one State to anotherLiability to tax-Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1948 (Mysore 46 of
1948)-Constitution of India, Art.286(2);
The second appellant was a manufacturer of cement and
at the material time it had over a dozen factories in different
parts of India none of which was in the State of Mysore.
The first appellant was its sales manager and ~ad its head
office in Bombay with a branch office at Bangalore in the
State of Mysore. Cement was a controlled article· and everyone wishing to buy cement had to get an authorisation from
the appropriate Government authorities in a standard form
which authorised the first appellant to sell cement in quantities
mentioned therein and the cement had to be supplied from
the factory therein mentioned. The purchaser had to place
an order with the first appellant stating the requirement,
where the goods were to be sent and how they were to be sent.
In the present ca~e, all the goods were sent against the
authorisations from the various factories belonging , to the
second appellant which were all outside the. State of Mysore
and were received in the State of Mysore by the various
-
l9G2
Augtiil 28 • .