The main legal point established in the judgment is the authority of educational institutions to take suitable disciplinary action against students found guilty of indiscipline, emphasizing the importance of maintaining discipline to prevent catastrophic proportions of indiscipline in educational institutions.

The Order of the Court was as follows :

Notice of motion was ordered in all the writ petitions. After service of notice, the third respondent appeared, filed counters and by consent the main writ petitions themselves are taken up.

The petitioners in the writ petitions are III year B.E. Degree course students in the third respondent College. Pursuant to a complaint given against them in Alanthurai Police Station, a case has been registered as Cr. No. 44/2000 under Sections 147, 341, 342 and 323 of the Indian Penal Code. The charge against them is that they manhandled a group of eight second year students in Alanthurai Village. The affected second year students lodged a complaint with the third respondent/College also, resulting in a show cause notice being issued by the third respondent College on 26-2-2000 calling upon them to give their explanations in writing to the Principal within a week from the date of receipt of the show cause notice, as to why disciplinary action should not be taken against them for their misconduct. The show cause notice further stated that since the matter was serious in nature, the writ petitioners were placed under suspension pending enquiry, that during the period of suspension they should not enter the college and hostel premises and that the suspension would come into effect immediately. The prayer in all the writ petitions is for certiorari to call for the records of the third respondent in respect of his proceedings in KIT/STS/MEMO/320/2K, dated 26-2-2000 and for quashing the same.

2. The facts in all the writ petitions being identical, it is not necessary to set out the facts separately and if there are any additional facts pertaining to any writ petition, they will be set out in the common order itself.

3. The case of the petitioners is as follows:

On 16-2-2000, at about 9.00 p.m., nine second year B.E. students including Praveen Patrick, Dominic Prabhudas, Christober Vinodhkumar, Christobar Jeyakumar, Vasant Kersone, Vimal Jebamany, K. Prasanna, R. Johnson Premkumar and Issac Vasanthkumar came to Alanthurai from the College Hostel, picked up quarrel with the village people and hence as students of the College, the petitioners intervened fearing attack from the village people against the second year students. Ultimately, the second year students were taken to the local police and they were released by the police after getting an undertaking from them. These second year students were fully drunk and were even unable to walk. On 24-2-2000, Patric Prabakar father of Praveen Patrick, II year B.E. student, gave a written complaint to Alanthurai police station and a criminal case was registered against the petitioners. On the basis of the complaint, a criminal case in Crime No. 44/2000 was registered on 24-2-2000. The substance of the F.I.R. is that the petitioners manhandled the second year students in Alanthurai village on 16-2-2000 and in spite of several complaints to the College Management, the College had not taken any action and therefore the police complaint had been given. The F.I.R. is totally false and the delay of nine days in making the complaint amply demonstrates the said fact that the investigation in the criminal case is still pending and the charge-sheet is not yet filed. From 16-2-2000 till 24-2-2000, there was no murmur against the petitioners either by the College Management or by the second year students said to have been manhandled by the petitioners. A show cause-cum-suspension order dated 26-2-2000 was sent to the petitioners' parents as well as to the petitioners by Post to their residential addresses. The father of the petitioner in W. P. No. 4471/2000 received a communication from the third respondent dated 29-2-2000 stating that the College was unable to serve the show cause notice on the petitioner in the said writ petition in the last known address. The father of the petitioner in W. P. No. 4471/2000 sent a reply to the third respondent on 3-3-2000 denying the