Miss Luck, Miss Molly and Revaluation

The story of Moll Flanders, an English woman, who sought her fortune in the new colonies, is a tragic one. Miss Luck would remember and forget her with high frequency. Good and bad times descended on her and  evaporated like dew-drops under the summer sun. Yet the woman soldiered on, each misfortune just another stepping stone to the next merry-go-round. Hope springs eternal in the human breast.

We cannot tell you with certainty that Flanders’ story is factual. It was reported 300 years ago. But what follows is sadly the truth.

Just a few years back, Miss Molly, a Kerala student, had a setback in her early years. She lived amongst the country’s most educated citizenry. If the saying that higher the level of education, the greater the recourse to courts of justice, is true, Miss Molly lived up to it. She took on the bastion of education, her own university. Why?

Miss Molly as a student was a young, aspiring girl. She went to college and studied hard. She took her exams. But did not get the marks she expected. Miss Molly was now an angry little girl. The University had failed her, not only by way of the marks it had given her, but by not honouring her commitment.

The University allowed revaluation and the students asked for their papers to be corrected once again; in the hope of getting better marks. There is often a common problem  during corrections. Not the correction itself, but with the noting down of marks in the aggregation column. Some marks get missed, or are not written by the evaluator. Or, just incorrectly totalled. What we call ‘Human

Error’. And just as in law, where no litigant can suffer because of a fault of the court, no student can suffer for the mistake of the education institution.

Miss Molly filed an appeal. She asked for revaluation of her marks. She had high hopes and other exams to take. The next one was not far away.  In an earlier case, the University had taken a year, from April 1984 to June 1985 to announce the revaluation results.  The court had held that to be incorrect, especially since the 45-day limit had been substantially breached and the student, one Ms. Pai, had also missed the September exam. But what had the University done to remedy the situation? Hard to believe, but it simply got rid of the 45-day rule!      

Now what was Ms. Molly to do?

YOU BE THE JUDGE.

Ms. Molly went to court. With his help of an amicus curiae, Advocate V Chidambaresh , the court decided in favour Ms. Molly, 45-day rule or not. Revaluation must be fast. Fast enough to allow the student to appear for the next exam, whatever it may be. The student had lost a year. The student had to be compensated.

Miss Molly got Rs. 10,000/-.

This holds a lesson for Moneylife readers. Apply quickly for revaluation. But understand that a revaluation can also mean lesser marks. There might have been an error, whereby the student may have been awarded higher marks. And there is the possibility of a failure, following the revaluation. A double-edged sword.

Can cut both ways.

[An interesting aside is a recent case where a litigant was awarded an interim monetary relief. Well-wishers egged him on to appeal the order, asking for ten times as much. We advised him to confirm with his solicitor if the appeal could result is a reversal, either total or partial. When the man realised that he was treading thin ice, he backed out. And saved a few lakhs, too.]

Bapoo Malcolm is a practising lawyer in Mumbai. Please email your comments to bapoomalcolm@gmail.com or mail@moneylife.in

Courtesy By: Moneylife