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On Friday, the Supreme Court granted interim relief to a student of the L.L.B. course of Faculty of Law, University of Delhi (DU), who had to miss college in lieu of her pregnancy.The Bench, comprising of Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice AM Khanwilkar issued a notice to DU, while permitting her to attend classes for the next semester.
The Petitioner, Ms. AnkitaMeena, approached the Delhi HC earlier this year, seeking a direction to DU for permitting her to appear in the IV semester LL.B Examination. She wasn’t able to meet the requisite 70% attendance criteria, having missed almost 2 months of the semester due to her pregnancy.
She had sought relaxation relying on Rule 2 (9) (d) of Ordinance VII of Chapter III of Delhi University according to which in the case of a married woman student who is granted maternity leave, while calculating the total number of lectures delivered in the College or in the University, as the case may be, for her course of study in each academic year, the number of lectures in each subject delivered during the period of her maternity leave shall not be accounted for.
The HC had, however, noted that the position was settled by a decision by the Division Bench of the court in the case of University of Delhi &Anr. v. VandanaKandari&Anr., wherein the court held that maternity leave cannot be put in a separate compartment for the purposes of relaxation of attendance.The court had further highlighted the fact that LL.B. is a special professional course wherein no relaxation can be granted contrary to the Bar Council of India Rules, which specifically governs the field.
It had, therefore, in May, refused to grant her attendance relaxation, observing that while there may be justification for the petitioner’s inability to attend regular classes, the relief cannot be granted as per the Rules of Legal Education of the Bar Council of India as well as earlier decisions of the HC.
An appeal against this order was also dismissed, with a Division Bench of the court declaring that there is no dispute that the Bar Council of India regulates the standard of the Legal Education in the country and the University is bound by the Rules framed by the Bar Council of India. Thus, the learned Single Judge has rightly dismissed the petition.
Ms. Meena then approached the SC, through Advocates Padma Priya, Akshay Abrol, Ashish Virmani, HimanshuDhuper and RishabSancheti. In addition to the contentions already put forth, she also drew the court’s attention to a separation petition filed by 68 DU law students, who were not able to attend the minimum number of classes.Pointing out that the Division Bench of the Delhi HC had permitted them to pursue their studies without holding more classes, she now demands a similar relief for herself.
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