'Sham, Pre-Determined': Delhi High Court Quashes South Asian University's Decision To Expel LLM Student Over Alleged Indiscipline

The Delhi High Court yesterday set aside two orders issued by the South Asian University expelling an LLM student over alleged acts of indiscipline, observing that the procedure adopted was sham and pre-determined.

“The entire exercise was, therefore, chimerical in character, with the clear intention, already formulated, to send the petitioner out,” Justice C Hari Shankar said.

The court observed that the student, Apoorva Y K, was merely informed of the allegations made against her and such an exercise cannot be countenanced in law. 

“The manner in which the entire exercise was conducted cannot even be elevated to the status of lip service to the principles of natural justice. It was, clearly, a sham, with a prima facie pre-determined intent to expel the petitioner from the University environs,” the court said.

Justice Shankar allowed the student's plea challenging the office orders passed by the varsity on February 17, 2023 and March 02, 2023, vide which she was expelled. Apoorva got registered in the LLM course in October 2021 and was due to complete the same in May last year.

However, a show cause notice was issued to her in November 2022 over alleged acts of indiscipline. It was alleged that she entered the office of Associate Dean of Students without his permission and persistently demanded, in a “threatening language”, complete revocation of the disciplinary action against certain students.

As the varsity raised preliminary objection on the maintainability of the plea, Justice Shankar said that the SAU is imparting education and is discharging a public function, and Apoorva is a student in the varsity.

The court said that the decision to expel the student has resulted in curtailing her education and thus, the challenge to the same amounts to seeking a mandamus to the University to continue to educate her.

“The mandamus is, therefore, being sought to enforce performance, by the University, of the public function which it discharges. The writ petition is, therefore, maintainable,” the court said.

It added that Apoorva's expulsion from the rolls of SAU was effected in a manner contrary to the provisions of the SAU Act, its Rules and Regulations and the Proctorial Committee Rules and Regulations (PCRR).

“If an act, though purportedly stated to have been done in pursuance of the provisions of the SAU Act, is actually violative of the said provisions, the benefit of immunity from legal proceedings under Section 29 would obviously not be available,” the court said.

Counsel for Petitioner: Mr. Abhik Chimni, Mr. Saharsh Saxena, Mr. Anant Khajuria & Ms. Riya Pahuja, Mr. Mukul Kulhari, Advocates

Counsel for Respondent: Mr. Sandeep Kumar Mahapatra, Mr. Mvinmayee Sahu Mahapatra, Mr. Tribhuvan, Mr. Sugam Kr. Jha, Mr. Raghav Tandon, Mr. Harsh Raj, Advocates

Title: APOORVA Y K v. SOUTH ASIAN UNIVERSITY

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 68

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