Attendance shortfall: Law students get one-time Bombay HC nod to take exams for academic year 2025-26 | India News
MUMBAI: In a huge relief to students of ILS Law college in Pune barred from appearing for their semester-end law exams in the academic year 2025-26 for attendance shortfall, Bombay high court on Monday permitted them to appear for the exams as a “strictly one-time measure’’. Justices Riyaz Chagla and Farhan Dubash relied on a recent July 21 Supreme Court order that permitted students as a one-time relief to appear for their examinations in the academic year 20-26.The HC clarified that its relief would apply to all similarly barred students of the college who had not filed petitions, as it said the SC order had carved out similar placed students as a “protected class’’. But the bench clarified its order was “confined to the academic session 2025–26’’.The HC said its order cannot be construed as diluting the attendance rules for any other academic session. “Students pursuing legal education shall continue to remain bound by the attendance requirements otherwise applicable to them,’’ the bench said.The HC order came in a batch of petitions filed by 41 students pursuing different years of the 3-year and 5-year law courses conducted at ILS, Pune affiliated to the Savitribai Phule Pune University. The University said their attendance was tween 46 to 54 % while minimum attendance was 75 %.The petitions said an earlier 70 % rule with 20 % additional waiver rule ought to apply to them and also cited a November 3 2025 Delhi HC order to argue their case.The Delhi HC High Court directed that no student enrolled in a recognised law college in India should be detained or prevented from appearing for examinations or from pursuing academic progression solely on account of shortage of attendance.The SC then stayed the Delhi HC order, prospectively in May. But in July protected students across colleges against a lost academic year of 2025-26, with a one-time reprieve to appear for the final exam in that academic year when the Delhi HC order was passed. The SC order does not prescribe any minimum attendance for the protected class of last academic year student, HC noted.On Monday, disposing of the batch of petitions the Bombay HC clarified that the Delhi HC order did not bind it, but the July SC order did.Six different HCs had differed with Delhi HC.The Pune University and the law college argued that the SC order would apply only to final examination students of the 3 year and 5 year LLB courses. But disagreeing, the HC reasoned and the SC meant “concluding exam for that academic session’’ hence the petitioners who were students of first, second, third- or fourth-year stand included.
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The HC said, “A student studying in an earlier year who is prevented from appearing for the semester-end examination may equally lose the academic session and, consequently, be unable to progress to the succeeding academic year’’ If the apex court “ intended to protect only students in the final year or final semester of the law course, it could readily have said so,’’ the HC explained.The HC clarified it has not dealt with the controversy raised by the students of whether the maximum condonation of 20% contemplated under Ordinance 70 was required to operate upon the minimum attendance requirement of 70% prescribed under Rule 12 of the Legal Education Rules or upon the requirement of 75% prescribed under Ordinance 68. This issue is left open.The HC had earlier granted interim protection to the Petitioners who appeared for their examinations and confirmed the relief. The HC directed the University to conduct supplementary exams within 4 weeks for academic year 2025-26 for those who could not appear.
