JUDGMENT - M.F. SALDANHA, J.:---The seven petitioners before us are the students of Pooja Sane Guruji Vidya Prasarak Mandal's Polytechnic, Sahada, Dist. Dhulia. The case of the seven petitioners as far as the limited issues that fall for determination in this petition are concerned are all identical. The petitioners were, at the relevant time, doing a course in Diploma in Engineering which is a 3 year course. The Diploma in question was to be awarded by respondent No. 2, the Board of Technical Education, Maharashtra State. The present petition arises out of orders dated 2nd March 1990 which were conveyed to the petitioners by the Principal of the institution, informing them that pursuant to an enquiry held by the Board of Technical Education, that a decision has been taken to award certain punishments tot he petitioners and to certain other students who have incidentally not challenged the decision of the Board, to cancel the results of the May 1989 examination of the candidates and furthermore, not to permit the candidates concerned to appear to three subsequent examinations.

2. The course in question is a three-year course and a student is required to appear for an examination at the end of each year. The student is required to pass in seven subjects in each of the three examinations. As far as the First Year is concerned, a student who fails in as many as three subjects is permitted to keep terms for the Second Year and the student is also permitted to appear for the subjects in question at any subsequent examination. There is no limitation with regard to the number of attempts that the student may make for purposes of passing in the subjects in which the student has been unsuccessful. The Rules, however, provide that the student shall not be permitted to commence the Third Year course of study unless the student has cleared all the seven subjects pertaining to the First Year. As far as the present petitioners are concerned, admittedly, they were unsuccessful in two subjects viz, Applied Mechanics and Elements of Mechanical Electrical Technology at the May 1987 examination. The petitioners thereafter appeared in December 1987, at which examination, they once again failed. The same position obtains as far as their attempt at the subsequent examination in May 1988 is concerned and it appears from the record that the petitioners failed at the examination held in November 1988. Thereafter, the petitioners had filled up their application forms for one more attempt a the May 1989 examination with which we are concerned. It is relevant to point out here that it was crucial as far as the petitioners were concerned that they cleared the two subjects at this examination as otherwise, they would not have been permitted to commence their course of study for the Third Year. This aspect of the matter assumes some importance. The record further indicates that the petitioners were declared successful at the May 1989 examination in the two subjects. Subsequently, however, a complaint was received by the Board that certain students from the first-respondent institution who had not sat for the examination in May 1989 had been declared successful at that examination. Pursuant to this complaint, the Board instituted an enquiry to be conducted by a special committee headed by the Principal, Government Polytechnic, Jalgaon. A show cause notice dated 11-12-1989 was addressed to the petitioners and to all those students in whose cases the Board had detected certain irregularities. In the show cause notice in question, it had been pointed to the petitioners that they had appeared for certain subjects at the May 1989 examination, that they had remained absent when the examination was conducted and furthermore, that they had been instrumental in showing in the marksheet pertaining to that examination certain old and incorrect marks wrongly indicating that they had in fact passed in the subjects in question at the earlier examination held in November

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