Kerala HC strikes down order allowing 16 suspended SFI students to appear for exams

The Kerala high court on Tuesday struck down an interim order passed by a single-judge bench that permitted 16 suspended students of the Students Federation of India (SFI) to appear for examinations beginning November 4 at the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit.

The division bench of justices Anil K Narendran and Muralee Krishna S on Tuesday allowed the appeal filed by the university challenging the single judge’s interim order. The university contended that the suspended students lacked the requisite attendance to appear for the examinations and had not cleared their internal exams.

The students, belonging to the SFI, were suspended on August 13 after they staged a protest on the university campus, including a mock cremation of the vice chancellor. The vice chancellor was also reportedly manhandled during the protest, and attempts were made to damage her car.

In its order on Tuesday, the high court relied on a 2017 division bench ruling of the same court, which stated that anyone indulging in activities such as a dharna, satyagraha or hunger strike in an educational institution was liable to be ‘expelled or rusticated’.

“Educational institutions are meant for imparting education and not politics. By their political ambition, the political parties cannot hold to ransom the educational institution or the right of the civilised students to receive education,” said the 2017 verdict of the High Court in Dr Antony Thomas v VM Muhammed Rafique and others.

The high court also underlined that there was a total lack of pleadings in the suspended students’ petition regarding their entitlement to appear for the university examinations. “By issuing such an interim order, the learned single judge directed the university and its officials to act contrary to the requirements of the relevant regulations, which is legally impermissible in view of the law laid down by the apex court...” the high court said on Tuesday.