The Delhi High Court (HC) has observed that the Delhi University (DU) centenary chances provided to the former students to reappear in the examination they have not yet cleared were not a matter of "right".
The HC said the decision of the varsity to grant a centenary chance and the terms on which it is to be granted are matters belonging to the realm of pure academic policy. This was stated in a report by PTI.
“The centenary chances were not a matter of right. Neither did any candidate, who had failed to clear all papers within the maximum span period of the course, have a right to seek a further chance to clear the papers, nor did the DU have any obligation to provide any such chance. Both centenary chances were beneficial dispensations provided by the DU suo motu as it were, as part of its centenary celebrations. They were, therefore, in the nature of a benefice, not a right,” Justice C Hari Shankar said.
The HC further mentioned that the terms on which such benefit was to be extended to the former students were also a matter entirely within the DU's province. In addition to this, there was no legally enforceable obligation on the varsity to provide a second chance to students so that they could repeat the papers which they are yet to clear.
The court dismissed the petition saying it was not a case for issuance of notice.
The petitioner, who was a student of the Campus Law Centre (CLC) where she underwent her (Bachelor of Legislative Law) LLB course from 2009 to 2012, was aggrieved by the fact that in this second centenary chance, the students were allowed to reattempt only a maximum of four papers.
Her grievance was that as the students were given a chance only to attempt four papers in the second centenary examination, she would still be left with two papers to clear.
The high court said if the university decided to allow all the papers to be reattempted in the first centenary chance and restricted the second centenary chance to four papers, it was no more than the legitimate exercise of the discretion vested in the DU in that regard.
“No prima facie case of arbitrariness or invalidity of such policy has been made out either in the writ petition or during the course of oral arguments. In such matters, this court is of the view that even issuing of notice must be circumspect. If academic bodies are made answerable to the court regarding every policy decision that they take, it would severely affect their autonomy and freedom of administration,” said the court.
