Tanisha Rana
Published on: 16th August, 2022 at 21:34 IST
Dharmashastra National Law University, Jabalpur’s 78 students have moved the Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh HC challenging the University Administration’s decision to charge students Rs. 7500/- per subject for remedial classes, in order for them to become eligible to sit for the end-term examinations.
In their plea, the students have questioned the administration authority that how they could be asked to pay Rs. 7500/- per subject for remedial classes in order for them to become eligible to sit for the end-term examinations, if they have already been debarred from sitting for the end-term examinations.
The students argued that, according to the earlier rules of the university, students were allowed to appear for the end-term examination after a payment of Rs. 500, if they were debarred from giving the examination due to short-attendance.
Also, the students alleged that the university had not conducted the mandatory number of lectures as prescribed by the Bar Council of India, i.e., 24 lecture hours per week (excluding tutorials, seminars, and moot court activities).
The plea filed by the students, claimed that only 21 hours of lectures per week were conducted for the 2021-2022 academic year.
A representation was also moved by the students before the administration against the excessive fee charge for remedial classes. The administration agreed to reduce the cost of remedial classes from Rs. 7500/- per subject to Rs. 5000/- per subject.
Advocate Varun Tankha presented his arguments from the petitioner’s side. In his argument, he stated that charging such exorbitant fees to students is detrimental to the idea of providing quality education to students.
He also contended that how can the administration authorities ask students to pay Rs. 7500/- per subject for remedial classes in order for them to become eligible to sit for the end-term examinations, if they have already been debarred from sitting for the end-term examinations.
It was also averred in the plea, that no prior information regarding the applicability of fees for remedial classes to appear for the end-term examination were given prior to the students, either at the start of the session or during the session.
The plea prays for the relief that students are allowed to appear the end-term examination according to the previous rules of the university that stated that they allowed to appear for the end-term examination after a payment of Rs. 500, if they are debarred from giving the end-term examination due to short-attendance.