HC quashes DU Law Faculty notice against supplementary exams

The Delhi High Court on Friday quashed the Delhi University Law Faculty notice for discontinuation of supplementary exams after the sixth (last) semester for candidates who failed to clear them in previous five semesters.

The notice was issued in October 2017 and said it would also be applicable to students who took admissions before 2017.

Justice Rekha Palli quashed the order as "wholly arbitrary" in so far as it applied retrospectively. It is still applicable to those who took admissions in 2017.

"In my opinion, the students who had taken admission before the academic year 2017-18 deserve at least one opportunity to take their supplementary examinations as per the unamended ordinance.

"Accordingly, the University of Delhi is directed to grant one opportunity to all the students of the LLB course who had taken admissions prior to the academic year 2017-18, to take their supplementary examinations as per the unamended rules/ordinance contained in notification dated November 14, 2014," the order read.

The three-year law course is conducted in six semesters -- two semesters for each year with exams conducted in November (odd semester) and June (even semester).

According to the rule as existed before the college notice, a candidate gets a chance to clear the backlogs in two supplementary exams after the sixth semester, if he or she is not able to clear them during the routine semestral exams.

The first supplementary exam is conducted in June for final year students having backlogs from first, third, and fifth semester, while the second supplementary exam is conducted in August or September to clear second, fourth and sixth semester (result for sixth semester having been announced in July).

The 2017 notice had spoken of discontinuing this supplementary exam system, which entailed that a candidate will have to wait for six months to a year to clear his or her backlog in November or June next year, depending on the semester exam pending.

--IANS

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