Low attendance: Bombay HC relief for students debarred from BCom exams

According to the ordinance of the university, a student should have an overall average attendance of 75 per cent and an average 50 per cent attendance in each subject.

Bombay High Court on Monday directed the University of Mumbai to allow three students from Narsee Monjee College to appear for BCom exams. The student were debarred from the exams to be this month allegedly due to poor attendance.

A division bench of Justice B R Gavai and Justice B H Dangre permitted the students to appear for the exams under “exceptional circumstances.” The students, two from first year and one from second year, had moved a petition through lawyer Mihir Joshi.

In the petition, the reasons for low attendance, one of them stated, was a major accident on May 15, 2016 that resulted in severe injuries and fractures in both his legs, adding that he had undergone another major surgery in December 2017. His movement was severely restricted and he was unable to attend lectures, he told the court. The second student said she could not attend college because of her treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma (a type of blood cancer). She added she was required to undergo 12 blocks of chemotherapy, which would continue for 4 to 6 months.

The third student said that he had maintained regular attendance from the beginning of the fourth semester on November 20, 2017 until his accident on January 17, 2018. He added that he had undergone leg surgery and was put in a plaster.

According to the ordinance of the university, a student should have an overall average attendance of 75 per cent and an average 50 per cent attendance in each subject. College could grant concession up to 25 per cent, but the university has the inherent powers to condone lack of attendance even if a student’s attendance is below 50 per cent depending on the facts of each case, the ordinance stated.

The college for all three students had sent recommendation stating that a lack of attendance be condoned and they be allowed to appear for the exams. Mumbai University counsel Rui Rodriques relied upon the judgment passed by the same court in February 2018, which said, “…we have already come to a considered conclusion that, as a rule there has to be an average attendance of 75 per cent and minimum 50 per cent in each of the subjects. The same can be condoned by the principals of the colleges on the recommendation of the Attendance Committee on verifying genuineness of the grounds which are also mentioned in the said ordinance.”