New Delhi, August 06: Mahira Khan has just finished her entrance examination for a Bachelor’s in Business Studies (BBS) programme at Jamia Millia Islamia, and as expected, she is pleased as punch.
But Khan’s story has a rather difficult-to-practice moral for all students: do not lose your cool if you find another person occupying your seat in the examination hall — armed with your roll number at that.
Appearing for her BBS entrance examination held by the university on June 16 for the 2009-10 session, she was expectedly “surprised and shocked” when in the examination hall, she found another candidate in her seat. The other candidate even had the same roll number as Khan’s: BBS 2082.
The situation created “quite a confusion” and was finally sorted out by the university “after a considerable time”: authorities decided to allot Khan a new roll number, BBS 2082A.
But Khan failed her exam. And she promptly sued the university for putting her in a fix merely moments before her examination, thereby making her lose her cool and confidence.
“On account of the mistake committed by the respondent (Jamia) in allotting the same roll number to two candidates, and allotting a different roll number after a considerable time, the petitioner (Khan) lost about 45 minutes and could not perform properly in her entrance examination, leading to her non-selection,” Khan contended before Delhi High Court Justice Anil Kumar in her petition. She argued that the university was liable to hold a re-examination exclusively for her.
“We went to court and volunteered to conduct the re-examination for Mahira Khan,” advocate M A Siddiqui, counsel for the university, said on Wednesday.
Consequently, Justice Kumar posted the re-examination to be held on August 4. Siddiqui said Khan took her examination on Tuesday and finished it on time. “We wish the best for her,” he added on behalf of Jamia.
–Agencies