Chandigarh: The Panjab University (PU) here has been asked by a consumer forum to pay Rs.50,000 to a student, who was not allowed to sit for an exam on time due to a clerical error.

According to the complainant, Gurdeep Singh, a student of BA-III of PU, he had gone to the Government College in Sector 11 here on April 1 to take his English exam.

However, the examination superintendent did not allow him to sit for the exam, as the subject was not mentioned against his name.

"This centre of examination was allotted to me by PU but I was shocked to learn that although my name was in the list of students but the subject was not mentioned against my name. After my repeated requests they allowed me to sit for the exam but only after one and a half hours," Singh, a resident of Maloya village here, told sources on Wednesday.

He added: "Immediately after the exam I approached the concerned officials in PU and they told me that such mistakes are common."

Singh said that due to this confusion he could not concentrate on his exam and that affected his performance.

"I suffered a lot of mental and physical harassment so I decided to approach the consumer forum," Singh said.

The district consumer disputes redressal forum here on Tuesday directed PU to pay Singh Rs.50,000 as compensation.

The university was also directed to pay Rs.5,000 to the petitioner as cost of litigation proceedings. IANS