HC upholds DU’s decision to allow ex-students to reattempt only four papers

The judge said that “centenary chances” (DU’s decision to grant its ex-students an opportunity to clear the papers) were “in the nature of benefice and not a matter of right”, adding that the varsity was not under a legal obligation to allow its former students to reattempt all the papers

The Delhi high court upheld Delhi University’s (DU) notification giving a second chance to its former students to reappear in maximum of four exams, on the grounds that the same is a “pure policy decision” taken by the varsity for legitimate reasons.

A bench of justice C Hari Shankar said that a candidate, who failed to clear the papers within the maximum span period of the course, did not have a right to seek a further chance to clear the papers. (HT Archive)

A bench of justice C Hari Shankar said that a candidate, who failed to clear the papers within the maximum span period of the course, did not have a right to seek a further chance to clear the papers.

The judge said that “centenary chances” (DU’s decision to grant its ex-students an opportunity to clear the papers) were “in the nature of benefice and not a matter of right”, adding that the varsity was not under a legal obligation to allow its former students to reattempt all the papers.

“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. The terms on which such a benefit was to be extended to ex-students were also, therefore, a matter entirely within the DU’s province and exclusive discretion,” the court said in its order on May 20, which was released on Wednesday.

The bench added: “Having decided to do so, there was no legal obligation on the DU to allow all the papers to be reattempted in either centenary chance.”

The court was considering a plea filed by a former student of the varsity challenging DU’s April 1, 2024, notification dealing with “Centenary Chance Special Examination Phase-II”, under which students who had undertaken undergraduate/postgraduate/professional courses were given a second chance to repeat the papers which they were yet to clear. The notification, however, permitted students to only reattempt a maximum of four papers for the second time.

In the petition before the high court, the student had asserted that the limitation to the number of exams was arbitrary. The plea stated that every centenary chance extended by the varsity has necessarily to cover all the remaining papers and the decision to restrict the papers was against the “ethos” of the Centenary Chance.

The petitioner, represented by advocate Danish Aftab Chowdhury, pointed out that the varsity’s May 2022 notification dealing with “First Centenary Chance” did not contain any restriction on the number of papers.

In its nine-page order, the judge ruled that the decision to grant the chance and its terms were matters that belonged to the realm of pure academic policy.

Consequently, the court dismissed the petition emphasising that the student failed to prima facie make a case of arbitrariness or invalidity.

“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,” the court said.