The Delhi High Court said Delhi University students awaiting final semester results for employment or further education can seek their confidential result before the university declares the results for the entire batch.
“An endeavour shall be made by the University to ensure that if there are any deadlines with respect to the student’s admission to any University in India or abroad or any employer needs the same, the documents are issued within the said deadlines,” Justice Prathiba M. Singh said.
The court asked the university to put a mechanism in place so that in case of urgency, a student can be issued his/her attested physical marksheet and transcript within five working days.
The order came on March 4 as part of a slew of directions to the University, which had during the COVID-19 pandemic struggled to provide original degree certificates and transcripts to students who graduated in recent years and had applied to various programmes in foreign universities.
Timely convocation
The High Court also directed the university to stick to the schedule of last Saturday of February, every year to hold convocation to ensure that “no inconvenience is caused” to the university’s employees and students”.
Justice Singh remarked that in the past the schedule for the convocation has not been adhered to by the University. “Sometimes convocations remain pending for even a continuous period of two years,” the Judge said.
The university had in an affidavit assured that it would provide digital degree certificates to students under 10 working days for urgent cases and 45 working days for normal cases.
The High Court accepted the university’s submission but directed that if the printing of certificates for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021 has not yet been finished, it should be completed by May 30, 2022.
“All the students who request for physical degrees shall be issued the said degree certificates without fail,” Justice Singh told the university.
Online results, the university said, will be made available immediately after the result declaration. For physical certificates, the university sought 20 working days.
“The submission of the university is accepted with the direction that a mechanism shall be put in place so that in case of any urgency, a student can write an email to the concerned Dean, Examinations who shall then consider the said request and issue the attested marksheet/transcript manually within a period of five working days,” the court noted.
Delhi University said it can issue transcripts within 21 working days, adding that issuance of digital transcripts is not possible as foreign institutions insist that transcripts be sent in a sealed envelope.
“Accepting this assurance of the University, in addition, it is directed that if any prospective employer or University is willing to accept digital transcripts, the Dean, Examinations shall have a digital signature which shall be affixed on the transcript and the same be issued within five working days to the candidate or directly to the employer/university concerned,” the High Court said.
