Bombay High Court asks student to pay Rs 25,000 penalty

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has directed an engineering student of Mumbai University to pay Rs 25,000 as penalty to the varsity for not filling up the examination form for a single paper that he was allowed to appear for.

The student came to court after the university refused to declare his result as he had failed to fill up the exam form. The court directed the university to accept the penalty, declare the student’s result and confirm his admission in the fifth semester.

A division bench of justices BR Gavai and Anuja Prabhudessai was hearing a writ petition filed by a third year engineering student Yash Bajaj seeking directions to the university to declare the results of an ATKT exam of the second semester, which he had passed.

 The student had submitted that as his ATKT result was not declared, he was apprehensive of losing his admission in the third year and sought the court’s directions to save his academic year.

As per the Maharashtra Universities Act 1994, to progress to the fifth semester, a student should have cleared all pending ATKT exams of semester one and two.

According to the counsel for the university, the student had failed to fill up the exam form for the ATKT exam of one subject but when the exams were held he was allowed to appear for the same and he passed. However, when the results were declared, the university held back his result on technical grounds.

After hearing both sides, the court held that as the student had passed the exam the university should declare the result. However, it could not become a precedent and hence the results would be declared subject to the student paying a penalty.

The court further added, “Needless to state that provisional admission granted to the petitioner to the fifth semester shall now be construed as regular.” Thus saying it, the court disposed off the petition.