No tinkering: Why Kerala High Court refused to quash private college’s warning letter to law student
A law student had approached the court seeking to quash the warning letter issued by the principal of his college refraining him from entering any classroom or academic space without prior permission.
Kerala High Court dismissed the plea filed by a fifth-semester law student of Mount Zion Law College who had challenged a warning letter issued by the college principal.
(Image generated using AI) The Kerala High Court has refused to interfere with a warning letter issued by a private college to a law student, holding that courts should not interfere with matters of internal discipline of academic institutions.
Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas dismissed the plea filed by a fifth-semester law student of Mount Zion Law College who had challenged a warning letter issued by the college principal.
Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas dismissed the plea filed by the law student. (File Photo)
“The jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India ought not to be exercised to tinker with the decisions of academic establishments or to interfere with the internal discipline of a college,” the order read.
Article 226 of the constitution grants powers to the high court to issue to any person, authority, or government, directions, orders or writs, including writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warrantor and certiorari, or any of them, for the enforcement fundamental rights.
Kerala HC Upholds Academic Autonomy Over Judicial Intervention
Background
- A law student who claimed to have completed his 5th semester approached the court seeking a writ of certiorari to quash the warning letter issued by the principal of the college.
- The warning letter issued by the principal of the college directed the law student to refrain from entering any classroom or academic space without prior permission.
- It further barred him from making any statements or actions that malign the reputation of the faculty, management of the institution.
- It was further mentioned that if such behavior repeats, it will invite further disciplinary action according to the college rules.
Findings
- A reading of the letter reveals that it is only a warning letter issued, prior to taking any disciplinary action.
- The said document reveals that it is an issue that arises out of the maintenance of internal discipline of a college, and that too issued by the Head of the Institution.
- The jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India ought not to be exercised to tinker with the decisions of academic establishments or to interfere with the internal discipline of a college.
- Cannot act as an appellate court, against any disciplinary proceedings proposed or taken by an institution, that too in the nature of the private college.
- The remedy, if at all available for the petitioner, can only be before some other forum under the university statutes.
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