New Delhi, Sep 16 The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed Satyawati College, Delhi University, to give a personal hearing to a student whose nomination for the post of Students’ Union President was rejected for not meeting the 75 per cent minimum attendance requirement.
A single-judge Bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna was hearing a writ petition filed by a second-year B.Com student challenging the rejection of his nomination on the ground that he failed to meet the minimum 75 per cent attendance requirement mandated under the Lyngdoh Committee guidelines.
The petitioner – Roop Bansal – claimed that his attendance had been incorrectly calculated and that he was denied an opportunity of hearing by the college. The plea, filed through advocate Ashu Bidhuri, relied on attendance registers and WhatsApp logs of online classes to show that several classes attended by the petitioner were not counted.
On the other hand, the college administration submitted that, as per the duly verified records, the petitioner’s attendance stood at only 65 per cent. After considering the parties, Justice Pushkarna said: “It is evident that a student, who does not meet the criteria of having minimum 75 per cent attendance, cannot be allowed to stand for elections.”
However, noting that the student was not granted a hearing by the Grievance Committee, the Delhi High Court directed the panel to hold a personal hearing the same day at 2:00 p.m., with professors of Hindi, English and Accounts present to reconcile the records. “The records, as may be submitted by the petitioner before the Grievance Committee, shall be duly considered and the attendance of the petitioner shall be calculated again, in front of the petitioner, during the course of the hearing,” Justice Pushkarna ordered.
In its decision, the Delhi High Court made it clear that the student could cross the 75 per cent threshold: “In case the petitioner meets the minimum requirement of 75 per cent attendance, the petitioner’s nomination shall be accepted and the petitioner shall be allowed to contest the elections.”
“In case the attendance of the petitioner is below the minimum 75 per cent attendance criteria, the petitioner shall be communicated the said fact. In that eventuality, needless to state, the nomination of the petitioner shall stand rejected,” it added, disposing of the writ petition.
In a concession to the “extraordinary circumstances” of the case, the Delhi HC also directed that if the petitioner’s nomination is accepted after scrutiny, he should be allowed to campaign till 9:00 p.m. the same evening.
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