The students will instead be required to submit a certificate stating that they have attended seven compulsory lectures in the subject, sources point out. The lectures were conducted in various colleges and departments during the present and preceding academic sessions.

The decision has put an end to the speculation and confusion over whether or not PU will hold an examination in the subject this year, which was made compulsory for BA, B.Sc, B.Com and B.Sc (Honours) Part I and II students.

The committee comprising V-C Prof M.M. Puri, the Dean, University Instructions, Prof I.B.S. Passi, Registrar Prof Paramjit Singh, Controller of Examinations Dr Sodhi Ram and Secretary to the V-C Dr Iqbal Nath Chaudhary has, however, decided that the students currently in the second year of graduation will have to take the examination in the subject in April 2000. Those in the first year can take the examination either next year or in April 2001, the committee has reportedly ruled.

The decision to hold to examination from next year onwards has been taken to allow the "procedure of consideration of syllabi given by appropriate academic bodies of the university", the committee members have reasoned.

The problem arose when in the first examination in the subject in 1997, only 10 per cent of the students who took the examination could clear it. For the ongoing session, it was earlier decided that the examination would be held following 16 lectures in the subject. That decision has been reversed by the high-powered committee's decision, which will be communicated to principals of affiliated colleges and heads of the university departments concerned.