Bombay High Court: 50 per cent attendance rule is in interest of students

Bombay High Court (Express Photo by Pradeep Kocharekar/Files)

The Bombay High Court recently said that the Mumbai University’s ordinance, making a minimum of 50 per cent attendance mandatory for students, was in the interest of students. A High Court bench of Justices B R Gavai and B P Colabawalla also held that the discretionary powers over student attendance vests only with the colleges’ respective attendance committees and their principals. The Mumbai University can’t claim to be the “supreme appellate authority” in such cases, the court said.

“A strict view on attendance must be maintained in the larger interest of not only the student but also of the institution or university. The ordinance… can’t be implemented haphazardly. We can’t accept the argument that the University is the supreme appellate body. Any relaxation in case of bonafide exigencies can be granted only by the college committee and the principal when a student must have a minimum attendance of 50 percent,” the bench said. “A student can’t do well unless he or she attends classes and follows rules of his or her institute,” the bench said.

The bench was hearing a petition against Mumbai University’s grievance cell by a college in Kandivli. The petitioner, BA Shroff College, alleged that the University’s cell did not take strict action against attendance defaulters and often allowed such students, who did not have the minimum requisite attendance, to appear for exams.

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The University’s ordinance on students’ attendance mandates that each student maintain 75 per cent attendance. However, college principals have the power to condone deficiency in attendance up to 25 per cent, if the deficiency is on account of bonafide exigencies, and is approved by the college attendance committee.

The University’s counsel, advocate Rui Rodrigues, argued that the University’s grievance cell intervened and granted relief to students only if it was convinced that the relief was well deserved.