Gold medal row: HC rules in GU favour

A division bench of the Gujarat high court has set aside the order of a single judge bench which directed the Gujarat University (GU) to give gold medal to a student, who had secured high ranks in the BCom final year examinations in June, 2008.

Arun Bhakkad, a brilliant student throughout his career, had approached the high court after the university awarded gold medal to another student. Bhakkad said he was shown to have scored only 35 marks out of 70 in Business Organisation and Management paper. He applied for reassessment and after that GU declared that he had scored 48 in the subject.

Bhakkad claimed that since he had got more marks than the student who got the gold medal, he should have been awarded the medal. The single judge bench of the HC then ordered that Bhakkad should get the gold medal.

The university then approached a division bench. In its order, the bench comprising chief justice KS Radhakrishnan and Justice Akil Kureshi, has set aside the order of single judge. The bench upheld the contention of Vaibhavi Nanavaty, counsel for the GU, that according to the norms of the university a student can’t get gold medal if he undergoes the process of the assessment. The court also rejected the contention of the Bhakkad that, the university’s norms are arbitrary.