Mangaluru: The High Court of Karnataka has refused to condone the shortage of attendance of 17 students of Milagres College, who were not allowed to appear for the examination for want of mandatory attendance.

The college had not issued hall tickets to 22 students due to shortage of attendance and 17 of them had filed a writ petition in the high court seeking directions to the college principal for issue of hall tickets. The students were studying BCom/BBM/BBA.

The students had claimed that they have paid the requisite fee and completed their 1st to 4th semesters in the college. The petitioners had contended that they were bright and intelligent students hailing from poor families and had attended all the classes. However, when their parents came to college for collecting hall tickets on October 24, 2016, the principal refused to issue hall tickets on the ground that they were short of attendance. The students had specifically contended that the college had not informed them about shortage of attendance at regular intervals.

Countering the contentions of the petitioners, the advocate for the college produced documents before the court to establish that the students and their parents had been informed about the shortage of attendance. It was pointed out that the names of students who were short of attendance were displayed at the college notice board every month. The advocate also produced the letters/memos sent to the parents informing them about the shortage of attendance of their children.

In fact, the college went one step ahead and conducted special classes to enable students make up for attendance shortage. As a result, 68 students could cross the mandatory 75 % attendance while 22 students reportedly did not take the issue very seriously. As a result, they were denied hall ticket as per the university rule. The high court, while dismissing the writ petitions filed by the students, said that it cannot direct the college or the university to permit the petitioners who do not have the required minimum attendance to take exams by condoning the shortage of attendance.

It may be recalled the students started protest against the college principal after Mohammed Shahanawaz, a III BBA student of the college, assaulted the college principal Fr Michael Santhumayor, over the same issue (attendance shortage) on October 20. The principal, who sustained serious head injuries, was hospitalised for many days.

Mohammed went into hiding for five days but eventually the police arrested him on October 25. He is still in judicial custody. The next day (October 26), 17 students approached the high court.

Elizabeth Neeliyara, the advocate and legal advisor to Milagres College, said that court order should be a warning to students who do not care to follow the college rules.