Supreme Court Upholds University Regulation Barring Students Who Fail Four Times from Continuing Veterinary Science Course. Academic Council's Power to Maintain Standards Under Sections 22, 23, and 43 of Mysore University Act, 1956 Includes Authority to Direct Discontinuance of Unfit Students.

Writ petitions challenging University regulation barring students who failed four times from continuing B.V.Sc. course, and subsequent appeal by University against High Court order quashing the regulation.

Students sought writs to quash communication from Controller of Examinations and to permit them to continue studies and appear for subsequent examinations; University sought to uphold Regulation 3(c).

Students failed four successive First Year B.V.Sc. examinations and were informed they had lost right to continue under Regulation 3(c).

High Court of Mysore in Writ Petitions Nos. 940 and 1056 of 1961 held Regulation 3(c) beyond competence of Academic Council and University, and directed they could not be prevented from continuing studies and appearing at subsequent examinations.

Whether the Academic Council of Mysore University had competence under Sections 22, 23, and 43 of the Mysore University Act, 1956 to frame Clause 3(c) of the Regulations barring candidates who fail four times from continuing the B.V.Sc. course.

Respondents argued that Regulation 3(c) was beyond the scope of 'maintenance of standards' and that the Act only allowed the University to withhold conferment of degrees, not to prevent a student from attempting to attain the required standard. Appellants contended that the power to control and regulate teaching and to maintain standards necessarily included authority to weed out students who lacked aptitude or had supervening disability, and that failure in four examinations was a reasonable test of unfitness.

The power to maintain standards in courses of study includes authority not merely to prescribe minimum qualifications and attendance but also to refuse to grant degrees to students failing final exams and to direct discontinuance of students lacking ability or aptitude to complete course within reasonable time. Power to prescribe conditions for admission to examinations implies power to refuse admission in certain contingencies and to weed out unfit students; failure in four examinations is a reasonable test.

No candidate who fails four times shall be permitted to continue the course. Power to maintain standards in the course of studies, in our judgment, confers authority not merely to prescribe minimum qualifications for admission, courses of study, and minimum attendance at an institution which may qualify the student for admission to the examination, but also authority to refuse to grant a degree, diploma, certificate or other academic distinction to students who fail to satisfy the examiners at the final examination, and to direct that a student who is proved not to have the ability or the aptitude to complete the course within a reasonable time to discontinue the course. Power to prescribe conditions, on which a student may be admitted to the examinations, in our opinion, necessarily implies the power to refuse to admit a student in certain contingencies, for the power to admit to an examination implies the power to weed out students who have on the application of a reasonable test proved themselves to be unfit to continue the course or prosecute training in that course.

Students filed writ petitions in the High Court of Mysore (Writ Petitions Nos. 940 and 1056 of 1961) challenging the communications from the Controller of Examinations. The High Court allowed the petitions on January 31, 1962, quashing the orders and holding Regulation 3(c) beyond competence. The University, Controller of Examinations, and Principal of Mysore Veterinary College appealed by special leave to the Supreme Court (Civil Appeals Nos. 565-566 of 1963), which allowed the appeals and set aside the High Court judgment.

• Mysore University Act, 1956: Sections 22, 23, 43