Naik assures earlier 'medal winner' of fair inquiry

Lucknow: An aggrieved student of Shakuntala Misra Rehabilitation University can now hope for redressal.
Addressing students on the university's convocation on Saturday, Governor Ram Naik, in his capacity as its Visitor, announced that he will look into the case of Pranshul Gautam, an MA English student, whose name was struck off the original medal list despite securing the highest marks in the course.
"I know there are students who are happy, and there are others who aren't. I have received a complaint from a student alleging discrepancy in the merit list. I can assure him that if there is any error in the medal tally, it will be rectified. If there is injustice, it will be looked into,'' said Naik.
In Feburary, when the university issued instructions to the medal winners, Pranshul submitted a fee of Rs 600 for availing the medal.
On May 21, the university communicated to Pranshul that he was the recipient of Chancellor's Gold Medal for MA English, and asked him to participate in the dress rehearsal on May 27. "On May 26, when I went to enquire about the dress rehearsal, I was informed that I was not a recipient and a new medal list (TOI has a copy of it) has been uploaded on the website," said Pranshul.
He said, he was verbally told that his name was removed on the pretext that he had passed his third semester with an improvement/back examination, which was not true. "After writing my first paper of third semester, I met with an accident within the university campus and was medically unfit to appear for further papers. I submitted my medical certificate and the university allowed me to appear for the remaining papers in August 2015," said Pranshul.
He said he cleared all the papers in his first attempt in August and completed his MA within the time frame of two years, without any delay. "Initially, the word improvement/back was inscribed on my third semester marksheet. When I took up the matter with varsity controller of examination, the officer concerned rectified it (TOI has a copy of it) and put his signature on the correction," said Pranshul.
Controller of examination AC Mishra called it a case of forgery. "We do not issue marksheets with any corrections. I am sure that the signature put after striking 'improvement/back' off is forged."