Allahabad High Court grants ₹5 lakh compensation to law student for admission cancellation

The Allahabad High Court recently granted compensation of ₹5 lakhs to a 35-year-old law student whose admission to a law college was canceled after completing the first semester exams.

The student was granted admission for the academic year 2019-2020 against the admission rules outlined by the Prabha Devi Bhagwati Prasad Vidhi Mahavidyalaya (law college) which is affiliated with Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University.

Justices Manoj Kumar Gupta and Vikas Budhwar declined to order the reinstatement of the law student, but ordered the college to pay him ₹5 lakhs as compensation since he had wasted an academic year at the college before his admission was cancelled.

“It is rather amazing that the Law College has acted not only in a careless and reckless manner but also exhibited a conduct other than bona fide just in order to enrol and admit students in order to charge fees playing with their future," the Court said.

The Court also rejected the college's plea to reduce the compensation payable

“We find that once it is admitted to the Law College that the appellant-writ petitioner had not practised fraud and he submitted all the relevant documents and was accorded admission due to the fault of the Law College then in order to compensate the appellant-writ petitioner for jeopardizing his academic career the amount of Rs. 5,00,000/- to be awarded as monetary compensation is reasonable and not excessive," the Court said.

The law student (petitioner) had initially approached the High Court seeking a revaluation of his LLB first semester answer sheet as he was dissatisfied with the marks awarded.

The Court previously directed the University to give him access to his answer sheets once he applied for the same. Upon revaluation, his marks increased from 36 to 42, but he was denied participation in the viva voce for the second semester.

The University then cancelled his admission citing it as illegal. The University pointed out that only those who graduated in 2016 or thereafter were eligible for admission to the three-year law course in the 2019-20 academic year. The petitioner had graduated in 2008. Therefore, his admission was cancelled, along with the admission of 54 others who were similarly placed.

The petitioner, therefore, approached the High Court again for relief. A single judge declined to set aside the admission cancellation but ordered the grant of ₹30,000 as compensation to him.

Aggrieved, he filed an appeal before the Division Bench of the High Court. His counsel argued that the student should not be penalized for the University's error.

The college countered that the student was fully aware of the admission brochure's terms and falsely claimed to have completed his undergraduate degree in 2015, despite being a 2008 graduate. It was contended that such misleading conduct did not merit any relief from the Court.

The Court opined that the law student could not be reinstated to the college. However, it held the law college responsible for the mishap, as it handled the application process and made recommendations to the University for admissions.

Accordingly, the single judge's order was modified only on the aspect of compensation, which was enhanced from ₹30,000 to ₹5 lakhs.

Advocates Anjana and Sarveshwari Prasad appeared for the law student.

Advocates Grijesh Tiwari and Nitin Chandra Mishra appeared for the respondents.

[Read Order]