New Delhi | The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to interfere with a Kerala High Court order that set aside the interim relief granted to 16 suspended students of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, allowing them to appear for their semester examinations.
A bench of justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe, however, requested the single judge of the high court to decide expeditiously the students' pending plea challenging their suspension.
The bench recorded the university's undertaking that it would conduct special examinations for the students if the high court eventually rules in their favour, so that their academic interests are not affected.
The students had approached the apex court challenging the November 3 order of the high court's division bench, which overturned a single judge's October 30 direction permitting them to take the examinations.
Senior advocate P V Dinesh, appearing for the students, submitted that they had been under suspension for 64 days without any enquiry, making the action punitive in nature.
He alleged that the university was deliberately delaying the proceedings and creating a situation in which the students would lose their opportunity to take the examinations.
The university's counsel, advocate P S Sudheer, opposed the plea, contending that the students did not fulfil the minimum attendance requirement to appear for the examinations.
"University have its own discipline," Justice Narasimha observed during the hearing.
Dinesh submitted that the students had staged a mock funeral of defunct lights and microphone systems on the campus to highlight the lack of basic amenities, but the university had taken serious objection to it.
The university informed the court that the students' writ petition challenging their suspension was listed before the single judge on November 17.
"We are not inclined to interfere; the single judge is requested to take up and dispose of the matter expeditiously," the bench said, while recording the university's assurance on holding special examinations if the students obtained a favourable order.
The students, belonging to the Students' Federation of India (SFI), were suspended on September 1 pending an inquiry into an incident during a protest on the university campus on August 13.
The university alleged that the students staged a mock cremation of the vice-chancellor, manhandled her and attempted to damage her vehicle. The students maintained that their protest was against non-functional stage lights.
Following the suspension, the students moved the Kerala High Court, arguing that they were being prevented from attending classes and that the action had adversely affected their attendance and academic prospects.
A single judge had on October 30 allowed them to appear for the semester examinations, subject to the outcome of their plea challenging the suspension.
The university challenged the order, arguing that the students did not meet the eligibility requirements, including minimum attendance and internal assessment criteria.
On November 3, the division bench set aside the interim relief, observing that the single judge had virtually granted the final relief sought in the petition without sufficient pleadings to support the students' entitlement to appear for the examinations.
The students subsequently moved the Supreme Court, contending that the attendance shortfall was a consequence of their suspension and that allowing them to appear provisionally for examinations would not amount to granting final relief in their challenge to the suspension.
