Supreme Court Criticises HC For Making Writ Petition Infructuous By Not Granting Interim Relief After Admission

In a case related to state board exams of Class 12, the Supreme Court criticised the approach taken by the Bombay High Court in a writ petition whereby the matter was made infructuous due to the refusal of interim relief after admitting the petition.

If the matter was ultimately to be dismissed, why was it admitted in the first place, wondered the Supreme Court.

The bench of Justices SK Kaul and MM Sundresh observed that, "In any matter, more so of this nature, there is no charity to be done by the Court by admitting the matter and making it infructuous and adding to the arrear list of the High Court. Either the writ was liable to be allowed or dismissed. After opining it was required to be dismissed, we see no point why it was admitted."

The observation was made in the SLP preferred by students who had taken class 12th Board Exams under Maharashtra State Board in February 2020 but were refused the opportunity to appear in the improvement exam.

Factual Background

One of the petitioners had scored 149 while the other had scored 141 out of minimum combined passing marks of 150. There was a scheme as per which students were to be provided two opportunities for further writing the paper to improve the score. The first improvement exam was held in November 2020 which the petitioners could not give in view of CoVID pandemic. The next exam was scheduled to be held in April 2021 but was later canceled and postponed for September 2021.

The petitioners approached the High Court which passed an order on September 2, 2021 stating that the Class Improvement examination which was to be held in September 2021 should be considered as the student's first attempt.

Since the petitioner's did not score well in the first improvement exam they filed an application for writing the second exam scheduled for March 2022. The petitioners had to approach the High Court by way of a writ seeking the relief prayed for.

The bench of Justices AS Gadhkari and SG Mehare on January 28, 2022 although admitted the writ but did not grant any interim relief on the ground that the petitioners did not avail 'two consecutive' attempts for improvement.

Aggrieved, the petitioners approached the Supreme Court.

Appearing for the appellant, counsel drew Court's attention to the order dated September 2, 2021 passed by the coordinate bench wherein the coordinate bench of the High Court had directed for considering the improvement exam held in September 2021 as "first attempt". In light of this, he submitted that the attempt made by him earlier should be taken as a first attempt.

The Top Court while setting aside the order said directed the High Court to decide the matter on merits expeditiously to ensure that the relief claimed by the appellants does not become infructuous.

Case Title: Samruddhi Sambhaji Padwal & Anr. V. The State Of Maharashtra & Ors.| Special Leave Petition (C) No.2305/2022

Coram: Justices SK Kaul and MM Sundresh

Click here to read/download the order