The Bombay HC maintained that the minimum attendance rule of 50% is in the interest of the students and thus, even the highest authority of the university cannot grant any relaxation in the rule pertaining to the attendance.
In the order passed on Thursday, a bench of justices B R Gavai and BP Colabawalla also held "the discretionary powers over students' attendance were vested only with the colleges' respective attendance committees and their principals and that the university can't claim to be the "supreme appellate authority" in such cases".
The hearing on the issue was set against the petition filed by the Mumbai University's grievance cell by a college in Kandivli.
The petitioner, B K Shroff College, alleged that university's attendance cell did not take any action against the attendance defaulter and it allowed the students (failing the attendance criteria) to appear for the exam.
The university's counsel, advocate Rui Rodrigues, told the HC that the university's grievance cell intervened in the matter and the students were granted relief only when the cell was convinced that the relief was well deserved.
"The ordinance is made by the university itself so the university is the ultimate appellate authority and can have the power to use its discretion on a case-to-case basis," Rui Rodrigues said.
Tags: Bombay High Court
Mumbai Univeristy
Education
Minimum Atendance Rule
