The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi University (DU) to provide a timeline for declaration of results, issuance of mark sheets and holding convocation on an annual basis for students. The high court said DU shall file a comprehensive affidavit providing the timeline and procedure regarding these issues so that students are not inconvenienced every semester and are not forced to approach the court for obtaining their transcripts, mark sheets and degree certificates, as was done in this matter.
"This court is of the opinion that in order to ensure that there is a comprehensive, streamlined procedure for declaration of results, issuance of transcripts, mark sheets and degree certificates, etc. DU ought to have a prescribed timeline ," Justice M Prathiba Singh said. The high court said the earlier affidavit filed by the university was not satisfactory as no specific timelines have been given for the issuance of digital degree certificates and for transmission of data to Digilocker and the affidavit was "quite cryptic".
The court was hearing a batch of petitions by doctors, former DU students, seeking direction for issuance of degree certificates on an urgent basis to enable them to pursue higher education. It asked the university to provide a timeline for declaration of results after conclusion of the last exam in a particular semester for under-graduate and post-graduate courses, for issuance of mark sheets/ transcripts or making them available online after the results.
The high court further asked it to provide the timeline for issuance of digital transcripts for such students who may require the same for further education or for employment and for transmission of data relating to mark sheets/ transcripts to Digilocker after the same has been announced by DU. "Timeline for issuance of provisional degree certificates or advance degree certificates after declaration of results, timeline for holding the convocation on an annual basis, timeline for issuance of actual degrees both in digital form and paper degrees and for transmission of the digital degrees/ paper degrees to Digilocker," it said. The high court asked the university to file the affidavit within six weeks and listed the matter for further hearing on February 17.
Earlier, the high court had directed the DU to issue within seven working days digital degree certificates to students who have already graduated and urgently require the document for taking admission in a foreign university or for employment. It had passed the order on a bunch of petitions, putting in place a proper procedure for issuance of degree certificates through an online mechanism to ensure that delay in printing of degree certificates does not become an impediment to students who need it and to dispense with the need for physical presence of students at the university during the COVID-19 pandemic.
