‘Don’t round off marks’

The law does not provide any rounding off of marks secured by candidates to make them pass certain examinations, the high court has said.

It made the observation while setting aside a single judge's order in an appeal filed by the Karnataka Examinations Authority. They had challenged the single judge's order of July 28, 2011.

The single judge, in the order, had allowed the writ petition filed by a student Amir Waseem and directed the authority to construe the aggregate marks of 39.66% secured by him in Physics, Chemistry and  Mathematics in the second year pre-university examination held in March 2011 as 40%, by applying the rule for rounding off numbers.

The counsel, appearing for authority, submitted that no rounding off marks was permissible in law. The statutory rule required a minimum of 40% marks in the aggregate in the optional subjects in the qualifying examination.

The counsel said that Karnataka Admission Rules, 2006, prescribe a certain percentage of minimum aggregate marks to fulfill the eligibility criteria. They do not provide for any rounding off of marks secured by the candidates.

The division bench headed by Justice HG Ramesh and Justice AS Pachhapure observed: "It is relevant to state that under the Karnataka Admission Rules 2006, for a candidate belonging to 'other backward classes' to be eligible for admission to any of the engineering degree courses, he/she should have inter alia secured not less than 40% marks in the aggregate in the optional subjects in the qualifying examination that is second year pre-university examination or any equivalent examination held preceding the entrance test."