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Judgment
B.S. Patil, J.—In this writ petition, petitioner is seeking a direction to the 2nd respondent - Principal of Shree Bhuvanendra Pre-University College and the 3rd respondent - Controller of Examination, Pre-University Board, to issue Hall Ticket for the examination to be commenced from 13.03.2013 for the II Year Pre-University Course (for short, ''P.U.C''). Challenge is also laid to the notice dated 14.02.2013 issued by the 2nd respondent - College vide Annexure-E notifying the shortage of attendance of the petitioner in certain subjects and informing that he was not eligible to attend II Year P.U.C. examinations to be conducted in the month of March, 2013. The case of the petitioner is that he has joined the 2nd respondent - College during the academic year 2011 for the two Year P.U.C. course. He completed the I Year P.U.C. and has been admitted to the II Year P.U.C. for the academic year 2012-13. According to the petitioner, though he was regularly attending the classes from the beginning, he could not attend some of the classes because of his illness. It is asserted by him that during the month of September, 2012, he fell ill due to Acute Viral Conjunctivitis. It is his further case that the illness recurred and therefore he was admitted to KMC Hospital, Mangalore, on 08.09.2012 and was an inpatient till 15.09.2012 as he was suffering from multiple oral cavity ulceration and drug allergy and was advised rest till the end of September, 2012. He places reliance on the medical certificate produced at Annexure-C in this regard. He claims to have again fallen ill in the month of November, 2012 and was treated by a Doctor and a Certificate vide Annexure-D is produced in this regard. On account of ill-health, the petitioner contends, he was not able to attend the classes regularly and satisfy the minimum requirement of 75% attendance and that the shortage of attendance is in respect of History subject as he has attended 65 classes out of 96 classes, which comes to 67.71%. This made the 2nd respondent - College to issue a notice dated 14.02.2013 vide Annexure-E notifying the shortage of attendance and informing him that he was not eligible to take up the examination commencing in the month of March, 2013. It is at this stage that the petitioner has rushed to this Court.
Learned counsel for the petitioner contends that the action of the respondent in refusing to permit the petitioner to take up the examination is arbitrary and illegal as the shortage of attendance is for medical reasons and not on account of any deliberate omission on the part of the petitioner. It is further submitted that as the petitioner has successfully completed the I Year P.U.C. and as the shortage of attendance is only in the order of about 8%, the respondent - authority keeping in mind the career of the student ought to have considered the plea of the petitioner and permitted him to take up the examination by condoning the shortage of attendance.
Learned counsel appearing for respondents 1 & 2 submits that the college has no power to condone the shortage of attendance and although the petitioner was notified of his shortage, he did not make good the same and therefore, the petitioner cannot be permitted to appear for the examination.
Learned Additional Government Advocate appearing for respondent No. 3 submits that the rule prescribes minimum of 75% of attendance and no provision is made for condoning any further lapse on the part of the student in not making up the minimum requirement and therefore, the petitioner cannot seek condonation of the lapse on his part. He further points out that in a similar case where shortage of attendance was marginal and was due to the ill-health of the student concerned, this Court in W.P. No. 7513/2012 disposed of on 14.03.2012 has held that the Government and the concerned college have to consider the case of the student by conducting special classes to enable the student to make up the shortage, so that the student concerned may appear for the supplementary examination such that he will not loose one precious academic year.
Observations made and the direction issued in paragraph - 12 of the said judgment can be usefully extracted as under:
To meet the ends of justice, I dispose of this petition with the following order:
a) The second respondent is directed to hold special classes after the completion of the term and before the commencement of the supplementary examination. In giving this direction, I am fortified by a Division Bench judgment of Madras High Court, as extracted in the Hon''ble Supreme Court''s judgment in the case of State of Tamil Nadu and Another Vs. S.V. Bratheep (Minor) and Others, , while examining the issue of eligibility to admission. The relevant portion of the said judgment is extracted hereinbelow:
Since the learned counsel appearing for Anna University pointed out that admissions at this late juncture are likely to affect the University Attendance Regulations, we also direct that the shortage of such students shall be compensated by holding special classes on Saturdays, Sundays and other holidays. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the engineering institutions have undertaken that teaching staff who are engaged for holding such special classes shall be paid extra and that no amount shall be collected by the institutions from the students.
b) In the above-said case, the students were not made liable to pay the fees for the special classes, as their admissions took place belatedly. In the instant case, there are no lapses on the part of the Government or the College. Therefore, I hold and direct the petitioning student to pay for the special classes.
c) It is also made clear that attending the special classes and appearing for the supplementary examination are not to be thought of as a matter of right. It is for the Principal of the concerned College (in the instant case respondent No. 2) to examine whether there were any extenuating circumstances for the petitioner for staying away from the regular classes. If he has met with an accident or if has suffered a serious illness or if there is bereavement in the family circle or if there is any other genuine reason, he should not lose one academic year. However, if the Principal, in exercise of his discretion, comes to the conclusion that the petitioner has been deliberately and wantonly staying away from the regular classes, then the petitioner is not to be given the permission to appear for the special classes and consequently to acquire the eligibility to appear for the supplementary examination. If the students are permitted to attend the special classes and appear for the supplementary examination in the routine course itself, that may have an undesirable effect of demotivating the students and of sending the wrong signals to the adolescents.
d) If the petitioner makes good the shortage of attendance by attending the special classes, he has to be permitted to appear for the supplementary examination.
e) The Government and the concerned College may also consider holding the mass counseling camps to bring about the attitudinal change in the young minds. The parents shall also be associated with the holding of mass counseling camps to ensure that their wards do not lose the focus and later end up as an anti-social elements or extremists. It is necessary that an erring adolescent has to be reformed and reclaimed as useful members of the society. Every endeavour shall be made to bring about the reform in them. After all it is the mandate of the welfarist State.
f) I am informed at the bar that only such of the students who have appeared for the annual examination are eligible to appear for the supplementary examination. I am not in a position to appreciate the rationale behind such a restriction. The very purpose of holding the supplementary examination in June is to ensure that the students do not lose one academic year. It is also worthwhile to notice that earlier the supplementary examination was being held in September-October. It is now being held in June only to enable the bus-missing students to appear for the supplementary examination and seek admission to the higher course in the same academic year. The laudable object in holding this supplementary examination in June should not be squandered. I also take judicial notice of conducting of external courses, vocational courses, open-university examinations, etc. in Arts and Commerce subjects, where no practical examination is involved. If the students are permitted to appear for the examination straightway by studying at home, there is no reason why special classes should not be conducted for the College-going students, who miss the regular classes for valid reasons and to permit them to appear for the supplementary examination.
In the light of the above, while I decline to grant the relief as sought for by the writ petitioner, in view of the fact that the shortage of attendance is allegedly for medical reasons which is clear from the medical certificates produced at Annexures-C & D and not on account of any deliberate omission on the part of the petitioner, a direction in similar terms as is issued in paragraph-12 of the order dated 14.03.2012 passed in W.P. 7513/2012, is issued in this case as well. Writ Petition is accordingly disposed of.