Blitz Bureau
The Delhi High Court has ordered the Delhi University (DU) to notify the attendance position of each student for every month on its notice board, clearly indicating the lectures/practicals held subject-wise and the numbers attended by each student.
It stressed that the varsity should send monthly attendance updates via email along with SMS and WhatsApp to the respective students, apart from maintaining a record of such notifications.
A Bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said that it is making the observation relating to monthly attendance updates on the premise that at the time of admission, the students must have furnished their mobile numbers and email IDs and in case of any change or not being provided at the time of admission, necessary steps may be taken to update the data of the students within a month.
It suggested that the Dean of the law faculty, in consultation with the Bar Council of India (BCI), may evolve a mechanism where the students within a time frame may make a representation regarding short attendance, and the authorities may take appropriate decision if such representations are found to be genuine.
The above observations were made by the High Court as it dealt with a batch of petitions filed by students studying in different semesters at the DU’s law faculty after they were not issued the admit cards for semester exams due to a shortage of attendance.
In its written submissions, Delhi University stated that the petitioner did not succeed in getting the minimum 70 per cent attendance in aggregate and there is no relaxation provided under the Bar Council of India (BCI) Rules. The varsity added that the attendance position of the students is displayed on the notice board every month during the academic session and any delay in holding the examinations has a cascading effect on the subsequent semesters.
