Bombay HC rejects plea of students barred from exams for low attendance

The Bombay high court on Monday refused to allow two students from a Kandivli college to appear for semester examinations after they were barred from the tests for their low attendance.

The bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) students had filed a writ petition against Kandivli Education Society’s (KES) Shroff College, which had prevented 105 bachelor of Commerce (BCom) and BMS students from taking the tests, which began on Thursday, as they didn’t maintain the 60% classroom attendance rate mandated by the college.

The HC bench of justices RS Gavai and Bharti Dangre rejected the petition.

The verdict comes close on the heels of another judgement in which the court had allowed three students of Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics, Vile Parle, to appear for their BCom examinations despite low attendance.

One of them, a first year BCom girl, suffers from blood cancer, while two boys from second year BCom could not attend college as they were seriously injured in road accidents.

Barring the above students’ case, the high court has consistently ruled in favour of colleges which sought to punish students with low attendance. Last year, KES Shroff College had prohibited over 100 FYBCom students from taking tests for the same reason. When the students’ grievance redressal committee at the University of Mumbai (MU) directed the college to allow these students to take the examination, the college moved the HC, which, in February, upheld the college’s decision.

Mithibai College, Vile Parle, was also allowed to prevent 97 third year BCom and 20 third year BA students from appearing for their final exams by the HC.