UGC rules vs student’s future: Madras High Court overrules law university’s abrupt ban on exam attempts

Justice L Victoria Gowri allowed the plea of a law student, permitting him to sit for his upcoming supplementary exams.

The law student had contended that the high court had permitted similarly placed candidates in its April 29 order.

Law student vs UGC guidelines

• The petitioner pursued his BA LLB at the Central Law College from 2017 to 2022, during which he cleared all papers, except for four, the Madras High Court noted.
• When the petitioner joined the Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University, his college or the university did not impose any regulations or conditions regarding the number of attempts within which a candidate should clear the examinations.
• Even the examination schedule issued by the university’s controller of examinations on April 13, 2026, did not mention the aforementioned conditions.
• However, on April 22, 2026, the instructions issued by the university stated that five-year course students admitted before the academic year 2018-2019 were not permitted to appear for further exams as per the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines.
• It was mentioned before the Madras High Court that, as per UGC guidelines, candidates could write supplementary exams only up to two years after the regular course is completed. 
• However, such aforementioned restrictions were not imposed when the course was commenced, and suddenly, in the current academic year, a demanding condition was imposed.
• When the petitioner attempted to pay the examination fees in the online portal, the portal rejected the petitioner, stating that the registration number is invalid.
• Aggrieved by the circumstance, the petitioner filed a plea before the Madras High Court.

‘Irreparable injury’ to law student

• Advocate S R Sundar, for the petitioner, submitted that he had only four papers pending, and the sudden imposition issued by the Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University had caused him irreparable injury.
• It was submitted that the petitioner’s first examination was scheduled on May 13, 2026, and the other three papers were scheduled on May 21, June 2 and June 5 of this year. 
• It was contended that due to the examination schedule, the petitioner had to send his representation through email on April 27 and May 4 to the respondent university, but no reply was received.
• Thus, the petitioner moved the court.
• Sundar submitted that similarly placed petitions had been filed before the Madurai Bench, and the Madras High Court had permitted the candidates to attend the exam. The petitioner seeks a similar decision from the court.

Madras HC steps in to protect disabled law student’s right 

The Madras High Court recently directed the Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University to grant a fee waiver to a law student with 40 per cent disability, observing that the implementation of fee waiver measures for persons with disabilities cannot be approached pedantically by clubbing it with reservation.

Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy passed the order while allowing a plea filed by a student enrolled in the three-year LLB (Hons) course, who was denied fee exemption on the ground that he had not been admitted under the persons with disabilities quota.