Judgment Intelligence
Petition AllowedMohd. Asad Choudhary v. State of Himachal Pradesh & Ors.
2026 INSC 1127
Civil Appeal No. 13767 of 2026 (arising out of SLP (C) No. 474 of 2026)
- Court
- Supreme Court of India
- Date of Decision
- 14 October 2026
- Bench
- Justices Vikram Nath, Augustine George Masih and Sandeep Mehta
Final Outcome
Appeal allowed; High Court order set aside qua the appellant. The University must issue corrected marks certificates and send the verification report to his employer within three weeks; salary arrears are to follow within four more weeks. No costs (paras 19-23).
Source Supreme Court of India, www.sci.gov.in — judgment dated 14.10.2026
Key holdings
- A student admitted against an allotted seat and shown in the university's Green Sheet Register is a bona fide student despite being left out of the admission disclosure list (paras 14, 16).
- The university's own lapse, in which the student had no role, cannot be visited on him or justify withholding verification of his credentials (para 16).
- A marks discrepancy that leaves the result a pass either way does not affect admission, student status or the degree (para 17).
- Choosing between two sets of marks in the university's own records needs only verification, not relegation to a civil court (paras 18-19).
Judgment digest by NyayVidhan: a summary of the court's judgment, not its text. The judgment itself is the authoritative version.
Brief Facts
The appellant studied B.Tech (Civil Engineering) at Manav Bharti University in 2014-2018 and received his degree in 2018 (para 3). Appointed a Sub-Inspector in the State Taxes Department, Jammu and Kashmir, he could not be confirmed or paid because the University never verified his degree; its records had been seized by an SIT after degree-sale cases were registered (paras 2, 4-5). A committee constituted on the High Court's order and the University found him enrolled, but missing from the admission disclosure list sent to HP-PERC, and his 7th and 8th semester marks differed between the result gazette and the Green Sheet (paras 6-7, 10, 13). On 20.12.2024 the High Court left the students to approach a civil court (para 8).
Court's Findings
The University's own counter affidavit admitted that the appellant took admission against an allotted seat, cleared all eight semesters, was issued all marks certificates and appeared in the Green Sheet Register, its primary internal record, and that his name was left out of the disclosure list through its previous administration's clerical error; the committee confirmed his enrolment (para 14). The University's further claim that the marks mismatch kept his data from HP-PERC could not be reconciled with this, since the disclosure list related to 2014-15 and the mismatch to examinations of 2017-18 (para 15). The appellant was a bona fide student, and a lapse in which he had no role could neither be visited on him nor justify withholding verification (para 16). On either set of marks he had passed both semesters, so the discrepancy did not touch his admission, his status or his degree (para 17). Which set was correct needed only a verification of the University's records, which did not warrant relegating him to a court of competent jurisdiction (paras 18-19).
Legal Principle
A university's lapse in omitting a bona fide student from its admission disclosure list cannot be visited on the student or used to withhold verification of the degree. Where the record admits admission and passing and only a records check remains, the student need not be relegated to a civil court (paras 16-19).
