Minimum attendance requirements in professional courses are non-negotiable, and courts should exercise caution in granting relaxations under Article 226.

JUDGMENT :

DINESH KUMAR SHARMA, J.

1. The present petitions have been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a writ in the nature of Mandamus or any other writ directing the Respondents to issue admit cards and allow the petitioners to appear in the individual semester examinations, which were scheduled to be held from 07.01.2025.

2. Briefly stated facts as per the petitions are that the petitioners are presently enrolled as students in different semesters (Ist/IIIrd/Vth) at the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, where they are pursuing their Bachelor of Laws (L.L.B) degree. Respondent no.2 published a list of detained students for the reason of shortage of attendance on 04.01.2025, wherein the names of the petitioners were mentioned, and therefore, they were not issued the admit cards for the concerned semester exams. Hence, petitioners have approached this court seeking directions for the issuance of admit cards and liberty to sit in the examination. The necessary particulars of the petitioners debarred to appear are reproduced below in a table:-

This percentage includes the remedial classes attended.LC-II

Submissions of Petitioner/Rojalini Parida

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that initially, the Law Faculty issued a date sheet which was later on withdrawn by them due to massive protests by the students highlighting the mismanagement and incomplete syllabus. Due to this protest, the Faculty of Law tried to cover up the situation and issued a schedule for the remedial classes. The petitioner attended most of the lectures of the remedial classes with full participation.

4. Learned counsel submitted that the Petitioner is a bright, intelligent student with a good academic record, and now her future is at stake due to this arbitrary decision of Respondent No. 3 to detain her for the first-semester examination. It was submitted that the Law Faculty administration hastily released the detainee list on 04.01.2025 in the late evening, which was the last working day for the administration. Learned counsel submitted that the Petitioner approached the administration and requested help but was denied. It was also submitted here that stopping the Petitioner from appearing in the examination after issuing her a valid admit card for her examination is arbitrary and illegal in itself.

Submissions of Petitioner/Harshit

5. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the classes for the 3^rd semester of the respondent college started from 08.08.2024, however, due to the backlogs of the petitioner, respondent no 2 did not allot the petitioner any section in the 3^rd semester stating that he shall be allotted a section only after the results are declared. Learned counsel submitted that the petitioner visited the Administrative office of respondent no 2/Faculty of Law, requesting them to allow him to attend the classes since it would affect not only his attendance but also his studies. However, officials from the Administrative office did not pay any heed to the requests of the petitioner and asked him to wait for the results to be declared.

6. Learned counsel further submitted that the results were declared by the respondents on 13.09.2024, and even after the declaration of the results, it took respondent no. 2 seven days to allot the section to the petitioner and the petitioner was allotted section „E‟ on 20.09.2024. It was submitted that the petit