CHENNAI: Awarding gold medals to students is an academic matter and should be left to academicians, observed the Madras High Court.
H Vennila, a B Com (Corporate Secretaryship) student at Pondicherry University, filed a petition before the High Court stating that although she had scored 2,014 marks out of 2,600, the gold medal for the best performer was given to another student who had scored only 1,923 marks.
The gold medal was denied to her only because she did not appear for one examination due to dengue fever. However, she attended the arrear paper in the subsequent semester and passed it, she said.
When the case came up for hearing before Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy, the counsel appearing for the university noted that its circular clearly states that a student must pass all subjects in the very first attempt to be eligible for a gold medal.
After hearing the case, the judge observed that there was no legal right to claim a gold medal and that it was merely a competition among students. He added that awarding gold medals to students was an academic matter and should be left to academicians.
However, considering that the petitioner was an eligible student, the court directed that the appropriate certificate be issued to her.