The Kerala High Court has held that judicial leniency cannot be invoked to compel academic institutions to condone shortages in student attendance, ruling that sympathy must not override statutory regulations.
Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas issued the ruling on September 1 while dismissing a plea moved by a student who was prohibited from appearing for her semester examinations because her attendance fell short of mandatory institutional thresholds. The court observed that granting exemptions in violation of established rules amounts to misplaced sympathy, which ultimately harms both the wider student community and the public interest.
Attendance Far Below Prescribed Limit
The petitioner had registered an attendance rate ranging between 59 percent and 69 percent, which the university and college authorities noted was well below the permissible condonable margin.
Challenging the ban, the student claimed that the college had committed calculation errors and intentionally omitted attendance entries to prejudice her standing. She further submitted that institutional representatives had acknowledged mistakes in maintaining records.
However, the university submitted that the Board of Adjudication for Student Grievances (BASG) had conducted a comprehensive review of the attendance logs and found no administrative incongruities or procedural flaws to warrant overturning the college’s determination.
Limits Of Judicial Review Under Article 226
Upholding the findings of the grievance board, the High Court observed that the student had raised no allegations of bad faith against the college administration. Consequently, there was no ground to conclude that she had been singled out for discriminatory or unfair treatment from her cohort.
The court reiterated that the scope of judicial interference under Article 226 of the Constitution in decisions rendered by specialized academic and appellate authorities remains strictly circumscribed. Concurring with the appellate authority’s assessment, the bench affirmed that there was no justification to disregard the college’s official records, subsequently dismissing the petition.
The dispute originated prior to examinations scheduled to begin on March 9, 2026. The High Court had initially granted the student interim relief by directing authorities to provisionally register her for the tests while permitting her to submit an appeal before the BASG. After the grievance board rejected her appeal upon record inspection, she approached the High Court once again.
