Madras High Court talks tough on arrears

Chennai: When a student is not able to clear arrears, except on genuine grounds, within the permitted duration, the authorities (university) should not issue notifications, permitting them to write the examinations subsequently, as it will always create unrest among students and the university will always be litigating over the matters in courts, Madras High Court said.

Justice S. Vaidyanathan dismissed the petition filed by a 1994-1998 batch student, which sought a direction to the Anna University to allow him to appear for examination papers P-MAI-26 Mathematics, MA3-03 Mathematics and MA5-10 Numerical Methods to be conducted in August 2018. According to the petitioner, he joined Anna University in 1994-1995 and completed in 1998 and cleared all papers except three. He was unable to complete the said three papers due to unforeseen circumstances.

 On November 22, 2017, a press release said that Anna University had granted one-time permission to students, who have not appeared for the examination, but however, the upper limit was fixed as students joined after 2000. When he requested that he may be permitted to write the examination and clear the arrears, the same was rejected, he added.

The judge said admittedly, the notification issued in 2017 has not been challenged. The petitioner was already given a chance in 2006 and that in 18 semesters from the date of his admission to the college, he has not cleared the papers and he was even though a student for engineering college, for the maximum period of six years to clear the arrears, he had been permitted to take up the examination for nine years. Permitting students to take up the arrear examinations was only a concession and it was given by the university on humanitarian grounds.

 The judge said the concession/benefit cannot be demanded as a matter of right by a student while taking up the arrear examinations in clearing the course itself.

“In this case, as the facts are not in dispute, the petitioner will not have a locus standi to demand as a matter of right that he should be permitted to take up the arrear examinations. The petitioner’s contentions cannot be accepted and if it is accepted, it would amount to opening the Pandora’s box. Though it is a fit case for imposing cost of '50,000, taking into consideration the fact that the petitioner wanted to avail the opportunity of appearing in the examinations, this court is not imposing any cost,” the judge added.