HC junks pleas to revoke semester system in DU

The university told the court that the decision was taken as a majority of the members of the Academic and Executive Councils had favoured the idea.

The High Court accepted the contention that the system change had been approved by the Academic Council and the Executive Council.

“The courts are ill-equipped to comment on such matters. These are matters for education experts. We have examined the matter from the standpoint of law and have reached the conclusion that the writ petitions are liable to be dismissed,” a bench of Acting Chief Justice B D Ahmad and Justice Veena Birbal said on Thursday.

In its 88-page judgment,the bench discussed the process through which the ordinance for the semester system was issued. “The DU Vice-Chancellor had issued an open letter dated 16.10.2008 to all the principals,faculty members and students of Delhi University on the issue of introduction of the semester system for undergraduate programmes.”

The court also dismissed the argument challenging the validity of the Academic Council decision. It noted that the resolution had been passed by a majority vote,as required,in a valid meeting of the Academic Council.

The DUTA had also said the ordinance passed by the AC and its amendments had not been published in the official Gazette,and were,therefore,invalid.

To this,the bench said: “… the University’s powers of issuing ordinances meant that the amendments to the ordinances and the appendices would take effect immediately upon approval by the Executive Council and were not dependant on the publication in the official Gazette.”

The court directed that the same be published in the Gazette within two months.