GLC Student's Writ Quashes MU's 'Retrospective' Circular

By Manu Shrivastava

In an order that comes as huge relief for thousands of law students across Maharashtra, on 28 July 2021, a Bench led by Justice Dhanuka and Justice Chagla of the Hon'ble Bombay High Court ruled in favour of Lokhandwala-based Government Law College (GLC) student Latoya Mistral Ferns in a Writ Petition filed against Mumbai University and the Bar Council of India (BCI) and quashed a circular that sent the students in a maddening rush to complete a barrage of assignments.

RULE OF LAW: Mumbai University has been 'ordered' to withdraw a retrospective circular

The LLB final year student filed the petition on 22 July 2021 following the arbitrary withdrawal of Semester 4 / Semester 8 marksheets of May 2020 examination by Mumbai University "after a full year had passed."  The university maintained it was acting on circulars by the Bar Council of India requiring examinations and/or assessments for a semester, in which a portion of the teaching was aborted by the COVID-19 lockdown.

Despite lacking preparation, resources, coordination from their colleges and points of contact in the faculty assigned to evaluate the assignments, we would have to submit the assignments failing which our futures would be at stake - Petitioner Latoya Ferns

The decision, retrospective in form, and concurrently bad in law, put the futures of more than 20,000-odd law student across Maharashtra in jeopardy, disrupting jobs as well as future education. The petitioner who feels that educational institutions had failed in their fiduciary responsibility towards students and that must be challenged legally. "If we don't do it, being law students, who will? Look at so many law colleges, even renowned ones, that just didn't have proper communication channels to deal with students," she felt.

Petitioner Latoya Ferns

The law student, taking up cudgels for her lot, filed a writ petition seeking urgent relief against the imposition of the Mumbai University circular on 5 July 2021, requiring students who had written their last final exam on 31 May 2021 to submit a bunch of assignments (1,500 words for each assignment), two for each subject, and within a three-week period.

"Despite lacking preparation, resources, coordination from their colleges and points of contact in the faculty assigned to evaluate the assignments, we would have to submit the assignments failing which our futures would be at stake," said Ms Ferns. 

The Mumbai University announcement affected thousands of law students, more than a month after the completion of their degree requirements, imposed inequitable hardships, especially on those "in employment, overseas, or in rural Maharashtra where the digital divide and scant access to academic resources is felt most acutely."

The circular, with the withdrawal of the May 2020 marksheet for conditions imposed retrospectively, had delayed the final results. This risked delays, deferrals and/or rejections of admissions applications of affected students to Masters and LLM programmes, particularly those applying to foreign universities. 

The order delivered by the Bench comprising Justice Dhanuka and Justice Chagla has resulted in the reinstatement of faith in the Indian judiciary today - Adv. Shashank Deo Sudhi

Students who had even gained employment based on past projected grades faced uncertainty and salary cuts as their graduation was delayed. In the times of COVID and the associated lockdown, it was akin to playing with the futures of law students.

Citing Section 90 of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016, the Counsels for the Petitioner proved to the Bench's satisfaction the circulars were issued without legal authority, that marksheets could not be retrospectively withdrawn and called for the expeditious issuance of final semester results and protection of the sole petitioner from discrimination.

Adv. Shashank Deo Sudhi

"The order delivered by the Bench comprising Justice Dhanuka and Justice Chagla has resulted in the reinstatement of faith in the Indian judiciary today," maintained Shashank Deo Sudhi who, with Srishty Jaura successfully argued for the cause of thousands of students who had "abruptly been placed in a severely disadvantageous position."

Following the Bar Council of India clarifying that the notification was to only have prospective effect, the Hon'ble Bench took note of the hardships and mental trauma caused to thousands of law students and ruling in favour of the sole petitioner, directed the Mumbai University circular be withdrawn.

The Order necessitates that final transcripts be made available to the Class of 2021 within a maximum period of two weeks from the date of the order i.e., 28 July 2021.

The legal team for the petitioner comprised Adv. Shashank Deo Sudhi with Adv. Srishty Jaura and Advocates on Record at HSA Advocates, Adv. Faranaaz Karbhari, Adv. Rahul Jain and Adv. Khushboo Rupani.

Here goes a copy of the circular issued by Mumbai University following the High Court order:

Follow The Draft: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube