Gujarat HC Seeks IIM Ahmedabad's Stand In Student's Plea Against Admission Cancellation On "Technical Grounds" After Completing 3/4th Course

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday (October 8) sought the stand of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) in a student's plea challenging the cancellation of his admission in the two-year postgraduate program over non-submission of certain documents within time, despite having completed three-fourth of the course at the business school.

A single judge bench of Justice Anirudhha P Mayee in its order said, "Issue notice, returnable on October 21". 

The Counsel for the petitioner student–who appeared via online mode–submitted that the petitioner had enrolled in the five year integrated B.Tech & M.Tech course from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IITM) in 2016 and completed the course in June, 2021. He further submitted that in the midst of the student's final year project at IIT-Madras, the guide who was helping the student passed away during the second wave of COVID, leading to pendency in the project's evaluation and grading.

Thereafter, in December 2021, the petitioner student took the Common Admission Test (CAT) for Masters in Business Administration (MBA), scored 98.66 percentile and got letter of admission by IIM-A in May 2022. The cut off date for submission of mark-sheet and degree certificate was December 31, 2022 the counsel said. In the meantime he completed two trimesters successfully without any back-log. 

The Counsel further submitted that the business school had cancelled the petitioner's admission on "technical grounds"–over non submission of mark-sheet and degree certificate at the time of the admission which was due to "internal delays" in the evaluation and gradation by IIT-Madras. The counsel therefore, prayed to allow the petitioner student to complete the course as the student had completed four of the six trimesters. 

During the hearing the high court orally asked the petitioner's counsel, “The admission was invalidated in July 2023, why didn't you approach the Court at that time?”

The counsel said that while the petitioner was in his fourth semester he was issued a letter in July 2023 by IIM-A saying that his admission had become "invalid". Pursuant to this he requested for an extension and it was granted. Thereafter, by communication of September 14, 2023 the petitioner's admission came to be invalidated for non-submission of documents. 

He said that the petitioner has "actively and persistently" tried to secure his documents from IIT-Madras from September 2023 till July 2024.

He submitted that upon receiving the requisite documents from IIT-Madras in July 2024, the petitioner immediately approached IIM-A seeking "re-admission" to complete the course. He said that at no given point of time, the petitioner is at fault and can be the cause for delay in submitting the requisite documents which had been made available by IIT-Madras only in July this year.

The grade card of the petitioner and the degree of the petitioner which is annexed to the petition shows that it was issued to the petitioner in July 2024, he added. The counsel said that the petitioner has "neither failed nor has reappeared" in any of the degree examination and the said assessment is as per the examination which he had given in the year 2021. 

During the hearing the High Court also orally asked, “At that point of time, you should have come and sought an interim order here. From September, till now one year is lapsed, you have not attended the classes for one year. Then, how can it be now covered up? Today, how can that one year be covered up?"

The counsel submitted that only two trimesters are left and even if the student is given a supplementary (exam) opportunity he will be able to complete the course as there is no time limit to complete the course as such. 

The High Court thereafter orally said, “Today, then no relief can be granted except issuance of notice as such, because you have not come within time and one year has lapsed now since, you have not joined the classes”. 

The court further permitted the petitioner's counsel to implead IIT-Madras as a party as the petitioner had claimed that there was a delay in their (IIT-M) part to provide the relevant documents due to which the admission of the student got invalidated. 

Case Title: R. Shri Vignesh v/s IIM Ahmedabad