SC refuses relief to student thrown out of college midway

Updated on: Thursday, June 04, 2009

New Delhi: If you do not fulfil the minimum cut-off marks for admission, you could be thrown out of the college even if you are already half way through the course, the Supreme Court has ruled.

The ruling could be an eye-opener for thousands of students seeking admissions to various colleges and universities both private and government in the country.

In the instant case, Rushi Kurijsm, a second-year student of Bachelor of Fine Arts at Mahalaxmi Jagdamba Mahavidyalaya in Maharashtra, realised it the hard way with the Supreme Court refusing to come to his rescue. The college is  affiliated to Nagpur University.

The apex court rejected the plea of the tribal student that if he was removed midway from the college midway it would ruin his career.

Despite counsel Dushayant Parashar's persistent plea, a bench of Justices B N Aggrawal and G S Singhvi ordered that in case Rushi files an application with the college authorities for refund of fees the same 'shall be considered on merits in accordance with law.'

According to Rushi, after passing out his 12th standard with 43 per cent marks he applied for admission in the four-year BFA course from the college in June 2006. He was admitted to the college and completed his first year.

He was allowed to write the exam and given the marksheet declared.  However, when the second term started on March 2, 2008, the college authorities refused to issue him the hall-ticket for exam on the ground that he was being removed from the college as he had failed to fulfill the minimum qualifying marks of 45 prescribed by the varsity for admission into the BFA course.

Similarly, certain other students were thrown out of the college midway for the same reason.

Rushi approached the Bombay High Court which refused to interefere with the college's decision, following which he appealed in the apex court.

In the apex court, the student took the plea that the college did not inform him about the minimum cut-off marks even in the prospectus issued at the time of admission. 'But now after completing two years of the course, they suddenly decided to throw out the student who belongs to an impoverished tribal community,' the counsel argued.

The counsel submitted that the college cannot throw out a student after having him/her to pursue the course for two year and collected the fees.

But the argument failed to convince the apex court which in a terse order said 'We do not find any ground to interfere with the impugned (high court) order' and dismissed the petition.

Kalvimalar

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