Madras High Court Asks Govt Advocate To Evaluate Criminology Paper Of Law Student, Doubts Transparency Of Ambedkar Law University

Doubtful of the transparency followed by the University in the evaluation process, Justice N Mala also asked Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University if the answer keys are provided for the semester examination. The court also asked for details of the criteria followed for awarding marks in the absence of answer keys.

“Are answer keys provided for the Semester examinations as it appears that there is a lack of transparency in the evaluation process? In the absence of answer keys, what is the criteria adopted for awarding marks?” the court asked.

Further, the court also sought details of the data on the number of students who had failed their semester examination and the number of students who had applied for revaluation and retotalling in the past three years. The court also sought details of data on the changed revaluation result. The court wanted to know if copies of the answer scripts were made available to the students, if they had applied for the same or had availed it through the RTI, and if the changed marks were made available to the students after revaluation. The court also wanted to know if the University permitted revaluation if a student had passed the semester examination but was awarded relatively less marks.

The court thus asked the University to suggest the relevant criteria and weightage of marks to be given to each criterion so that a rationale procedure could be adopted for evaluating the answer papers.

The interim orders were passed in a Student's plea for revaluation. The petitioner, Sunil, who was pursuing his law degree in the School of Excellence in Law, had approached the court seeking directions to the University and College to reevaluate his answer paper for the Criminology and Penology subject.

Sunil submitted that he had a good academic record and there was no possibility of him failing in the examination. However, to his shock, he found that he had failed in the Criminology and Penology subject. Though he applied for revaluation, his result was declared as “Fail” with “No Change”.

The court deemed it fit to get the paper examined by a criminal side practitioner. The court thus asked the State Public Prosecutor to suggest a law officer to evaluate the answer paper. Following the State prosecutor's suggestion, the court asked Dr. C Pratap to evaluate the answer paper and submit a report by April 16. The court also asked the university to reply to the queries by April 16.

Counsel for Petitioner: Mr. S. Surya for Mr. A. S. Kailasam

Counsel for Respondent: Mr. M. Nallathambi, Mr. A Gokulakrishnan, Additional Public Prosecutor (for intervenor)

Case Title: Sunil M.P v. The Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University and Others

Case No: WP No. 10056 of 2025