HC dismisses college students plea against debarment from exam

The Delhi High Court today dismissed a petition of seven students of a Delhi University college seeking review of an order upholding their debarment from appearing in the examination due to shortage of attendance.
The bench said the delay on the part of college in publishing the attendance record was mere three days and it was not the case of the students that these records were inaccurately mentioned in the college records.
A division bench of justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sunil Gaur dismissed the review petition of the students of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College who were not allowed to take the fourth semester examination of B.Com (Hons) course on May 9.

The students had initially got a favourable order from single judge which was set aside by the division bench on September 12.
The students had approached the Supreme Court but were allowed to withdraw the appeals after hearing. They had then moved the high court with their review petition.
While the classes had ended on April 27 and if the college was to legitimately exclude any student, not less than five clear days' notice was necessary in this regard.

The college had put out the list of students with short attendance on May 5 on its website, with a delay of three days and the students claimed they came to know that they were ineligible only a day before the examination.

To this, the bench said, "The lapse on the part of the college is only of three days. Were the cases of the review petitioners in the present case short of attendance marginally, the omission of the kind they highlight could have been of some significance. However, their attendance record
which has been reproduced in the main body of the judgment of the division bench dated September 12, show that there was significant shortage in the case of each of them.