Court strikes down admission of 68 students to MBA/MCA courses

 The Madras High Court has held that the admission of 68 students to the MBA/MCA courses in various self-financing colleges for academic year 2011-12 is illegal as they have not obtained the minimum eligibility marks in the qualifying examination prescribed by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE.)

As per the amended regulations of December 2010, the eligibility for admission to a two-year MBA course or a three-year MCA degree is a pass in a bachelors’ degree with at least 50 per cent for general category candidates and 45 per cent in the case of candidates belonging to reserved categories.

Prior to December 2010, the qualification for admission to the two courses was only a pass in a recognised degree. There was no stipulation about the percentage of marks.

In his order dismissing a batch of petitions by the students challenging the regulations relating to minimum eligibility marks for admission, Justice V. Ramasubramanian said the institutions were actually the wrong doers. 

“After admitting students contrary to the regulations, these institutions hide behind students and indulge in shadow litigation. They make the students appeal to the conscience of this court, so that along with the students the wrong doings of the managements of these colleges would also get whitewashed.”

Earlier, the university did not permit the petitioners, M. Arunkumar and 67 others, to write the examinations. Hence they filed the petitions and obtained interim orders from the court to take the exams. They were now in the second year of the courses. Their results had been withheld.

Mr. Ramasubramanian said the admission of the petitioners was clearly illegal. The court could not approve such admissions by showing misplaced sympathy upon the students. The amended regulations were notified in the Gazette of India on December 10, 2010. Therefore, everyone concerned was deemed to have had knowledge of it. The managements could not feign ignorance. The Judge said it would be open to the students to seek refund of the fees and also compensation against the colleges which admitted them contrary to the regulations. When the students sought fee refund, the institutions should give back the money in full.

The question of compensation was left open to be agitated by the students in separate proceedings.