New role for Women's Commission

BANGALORE: If you thought the State Women’s Commission (SWC) was only fighting atrocities against women, think again.
The recent directive to the Bangalore University by the commission has not only helped a girl to get her marks card rectified, but has indirectly helped hundreds who can gain similarly.
Vibhashri R Gurjal, a meritorious BA student from BMS College for Women, Basavanagudi, was shell-shocked when she received her first-semester marks card.Reason: The internal marks in each of the subjects she had appeared had been marked zero. She received the marks card in April 2006 for the exam she had written in November 2004.
She ran from pillar to post to get the marks rectified, but to no avail. While officials in the evaluation department said internal marks had not been furnished by the college concerned, the latter maintained that the marks had been duly furnished.
It was only after a year of struggle that she found the last resort - the SWC. A petition was filed before the SWC in June 2006. Taking cognizance of the case, SWC summoned the respondents - BU and BMS College - seeking explanation.
Meanwhile, the university, in a written reply to the student, stated: “If no internal assessment marks is indicated against the name of any student in any subject or paper sent by the college, it will be presumed that the candidate has secured zero marks and accordingly his/her result will be processed, for which university is not responsible and the college concerned will alone be responsible.’’
Vibhashri argued before the SWC that it was not logical to penalise the student for the fault of the college.
The proceedings before the SWC woke up the BU Syndicate as well. In August 2007, the decision-making body of the varsity resolved to take disciplinary action against the persons responsible for such lapses and to levy a fine of Rs 10,000 on the management of private colleges with a warning.
However, authorities did little to execute the resolution. Finally, justice was forthcoming. Commission chairman Pramila Nesargi sought the intervention of the chancellor and the girl’s papers were placed before the inquiry committee of the SWC.
Today, Vibhashri has her marks card with all her internal marks. According to the new marks card, her aggregate percentage has rocketed to over 8% as internal assessment marks have been included.
The issue is not restricted to Vibhashri who chose to fight it out. The case has benefited as many as 130 students of different colleges under the university, including nine of her own classmates, who were otherwise left to battle it out to get their rightful marks.
srinivasan.nandagopal@timesgroup.com