The Supreme Court has come to the aid of a law student by directing Manav Bharti University to issue degree and marksheets to her. The Apex Court noted that the student was deprived of her documents for no fault of hers for a substantial period of time.

The Appellant approached the Apex Court seeking release of her marksheets of 5th to 10th semesters and a degree in law, having graduated from Manav Bharti University (MB University) on completion of the BA.LLB programme batch of 2017-2022.

The Division Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Augustine George Masih held, “Having regard to the above established facts based on records, we are of the view that the Appellant has been deprived of her documents for no fault of hers for a substantial period of time and relegating her to another court of competent jurisdiction as observed by the High Court vide the impugned order dated 20.12.2024 would no more be required as there is no factual dispute left.”

Senior Advocate Prashanto Chandra Sen represented the Appellant while AOR Abhishek Gautam represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

The Appellant took admission in MB University for the session batch of 2017-2022 and was issued a Bonafide Certificate in this regard. On registration of a First Information Report, an investigation ensued against MB University on the allegation of sale of fake degrees. Since the matter was pending adjudication before the Court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Solan, the students of the University, including the Appellant, were suffering, as they were unable to procure their academic documents. This resulted in grave prejudice and hardship due to inability to pursue their further academic career. The Appellant was only issued marksheets for the first four semesters.In order to address the grievance of the students, the High Court of Himachal Pradesh proceeded to direct MB University to constitute a committee for the purpose of verification and release of the photocopies of the relevant documents of the students.

When the Appellant approached the University for procuring her documents, she was informed that, although she was found to be enrolled in the green register, her name was not reflected in the admission disclosure list for the session 2017-2018. Aggrieved by the non-acceptance of her request for the supply of documents, the Appellant approached the High Court. A representation was submitted to the Superintendent of Police, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, who had the custody of the records of MB University, for issuance of her unsupplied marksheets. This was rejected on the grounds that her name did not appear in the admission disclosure list. The Appellant thus approached the Apex Court aggrieved by her inability to secure her documents despite the delay of more than two years in court.

Reasoning

On a perusal of the affidavit, the Bench noted that the University had admitted that the Appellant had taken admission in the BA.LLB course for the Academic Session 2017- 2022, and cleared all semester-wise examinations. Detailed Marks Certificates for the 1st to 4th semesters were issued in the normal course of University functioning. It was affirmed that the name of the Appellant was duly reflected in the University's Green Register, which is the primary internal record maintained by the University. It was also noticed that due to a clerical and inadvertent error, the name of the Appellant was not included in the admission disclosure list sent to the committee and the name of another student was mistakenly forwarded.

The Bench stated, “From the above affidavit and documents on record, it is undisputed that the Appellant has been a bona fide student of MB University and had cleared all her examinations. It is also evident that the exclusion of the name of the Appellant in the admission disclosure list has occurred due to no fault on part of the Appellant, rather the same is at the hands of the University for which the Appellant cannot be made to suffer.”

Thus, allowing the appeal, the Bench directed MB University to issue the marksheets of the 5th to 10th semesters, the degree and any other relevant documents to the Appellant within four weeks.

Cause Title: Pratima Das v. State of Himachal Pradesh (Neutral Citation: 2026 INSC 13)

Appearance

Appellant: Senior Advocate Prashanto Chandra Sen, Advocate Muskan Nagpal, AOR M/s Mitter & Mitter Co.

Respondent: AOR Abhishek Gautam, Advocates Vivek Kumar, Rajender Kumar, AOR Bhupender Singh, Advocate Indrajeet Singh, AOR Rituparn Uniyal

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Justice Vikram NathJustice Sandeep Mehta

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.