A Kerala High Court division bench allows the university's appeal, setting aside an interim order that let 16 suspended students sit exams starting November 4.
A division bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday set aside a single judge's interim order that had permitted 16 suspended students of the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit at Kalady to appear for university examinations scheduled to begin on November 4, Bar & Bench reported.
Justices Anil K Narendran and Muralee Krishna S allowed the university's writ appeal against the single judge's October 30 order. The bench held: "The said interim order cannot be sustained in law." It added that its observations on the merits of the issue pending before the single judge were made for the limited purpose of disposing of the appeal.
The case stemmed from a protest on August 13, when the university's syndicate was meeting. The university alleged in its appeal that the students conducted a symbolic funeral of the Vice-Chancellor and later obstructed and assaulted her as she was leaving her office. Two FIRs were registered at Kalady Police Station. On September 1 the university suspended the 16 students and began disciplinary proceedings.
The students said their continued suspension, without a final decision, affected their studies. They said the protest concerned inadequate campus facilities and denied conducting a symbolic funeral. The single judge had directed the university to accept their examination fees and let them appear provisionally, without creating additional rights for them.
The university argued that the registration deadline expired on October 23 and the students had not applied in time. It said six of the students were doctoral researchers not covered by the examination notification, and that the rest did not meet the 80 per cent attendance requirement or complete the internal assessment.
