Kerala High Court Denies Exam Relief to 16 Suspended Students
Image: The South First
A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has set aside a single judge’s interim order that would have let 16 suspended students of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, write their semester examinations, which began on 4 November. Justices Anil K. Narendran and Muralee Krishna S passed the order on 3 November, according to LiveLaw and The South First, holding that political protests such as dharna, hunger strike and satyagraha have no place in academic institutions.
Students Face a Lost Semester
The students, enrolled in MSW, MFA, MA, FYUGP and PhD programmes, had been allowed on 30 October to pay exam fees and sit the papers, subject to the outcome of their writ petition. With that permission gone, they cannot appear unless a higher court intervenes. The students told the court their attendance shortage was caused by the suspension itself. The Bench noted that none of them had applied for condonation of the attendance shortfall with the required documents.
Suspension After an August Protest
The university suspended the 16 on 1 September, pending an inquiry into a campus protest on 13 August. Kalady Police registered a case on their own, and the Vice-Chancellor filed a separate complaint alleging assault and a mock cremation. These are allegations; the cases are pending.
Also read Pinarayi Vijayan CMRL-Exalogic Case: HC Hears Appeals on Oct 26
In its order the Bench relied on its 2017 ruling in Dr Antony Thomas v. V.M. Muhammed Rafique, which said students who take part in such protests on campus can be expelled or rusticated. It said, in the words of that judgment, that educational institutions are meant for “imparting education and not politics”. It also cited B.R. Ambedkar’s 1949 Constituent Assembly speech, which called civil disobedience and satyagraha the “grammar of anarchy” where constitutional avenues exist. On the interim order, the Bench said the single judge had in effect granted the main relief sought without checking eligibility, and that courts cannot direct a university to act against its own regulations.
Supreme Court Appeal Awaited
The students have moved the Supreme Court, asking it to restore the single judge’s order and to allow provisional or special examinations for the papers they miss. Their counsel was expected to seek an urgent hearing on 4 November because exams for 10 of the petitioners were scheduled that day. No hearing date has been reported. The main writ petition against the suspension remains pending in the High Court, and the university’s inquiry is still under way.
More court reports are on the IPB News Daily Updates page, including the Supreme Court’s refusal of relief to court staff in judicial service exams.
Source: Based on reporting by LiveLaw and The South First.
Image: The South First.
Get IPB News first
