Meghalaya HC overturns university decision, allows student to take exam despite low attendance

A student from Shillong Law College has won a significant legal victory after the High Court of Meghalaya ruled that mandatory attendance requirements should be applied with flexibility in cases of genuine medical emergencies.

The court on May 6, overturned a previous judgment that had prevented Bamang Nabam, a fifth-semester law student, from sitting for his December 2024 examinations due to attendance that fell below the mandatory 70 per cent threshold.

Nabam's attendance had dropped to 60% after he suffered from a gallbladder ailment that required surgery in November 2024. Despite his medical condition, college authorities had strictly applied Rule 12 of the Rules of Legal Education, 2008, which requires a minimum 70% attendance in each subject.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice IP Mukerji and Justice W Diengdoh determined that the rule "certainly does not cover extraordinary circumstances like illness or bereavement in a student's family, natural disaster, riot strife, political upheavals, other acts of God and so on which prevent a student or students from attending classes."

The court noted that Nabam was "a very diligent and meritorious student" who had maintained 100% attendance in four subjects and 85.71 per cent in one subject during September 2024 when his health temporarily improved.

"In this case, the record shows that had the student not been inflicted with gallbladder ailment, he would have maintained regular attendance," the court observed in its judgment.

The bench directed that Nabam's "attendance be treated as regular and that he be assessed in the 5th semester examination in regular course."

The High Court had previously issued an interim order on December 5, 2024, allowing Nabam to sit for the examination ending the final judgment. The results of those examinations are still awaited.