The Bombay High Court has granted relief to students of ILS Law College, Pune, who were debarred from appearing in their semester-end examinations due to shortage of attendance, holding that they are entitled to the benefit of the Supreme Court’s one-time relaxation on attendance requirements. The Court also held that the benefit would extend to all similarly placed law students whose academic session was ongoing on 3 November 2025 and whose proceedings had not attained finality before 21 July 2026.
A Division Bench of Justice R.I. Chagla and Justice Farhan P. Dubash was hearing a batch of petitions filed by ILS Law College students who had been denied permission to appear in the 2025–26 semester-end examinations after failing to meet the minimum attendance requirement prescribed under the Bar Council of India Rules of Legal Education, 2008.
The High Court rejected the contention that the Supreme Court’s order dated 21 July 2026 was confined to final-year or final-semester students. It held that the expression final examination referred to the examination concluding the relevant academic session and not the terminal year of the law course. The Court further observed that it could not read into the Supreme Court’s directions attendance thresholds or territorial restrictions that were not expressly provided.
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Accordingly, the Court directed that students who had appeared pursuant to interim orders be declared successful, if otherwise eligible, with their results and marksheets released and their admissions to the succeeding academic year protected. It further directed Savitribai Phule Pune University and ILS Law College to conduct supplementary examinations within four weeks for students who had been unable to appear solely because of attendance shortage, while extending the same benefit to other similarly placed students.
Clarifying that it was merely implementing the Supreme Court’s one-time relaxation, the High Court left open all larger questions relating to the interpretation of the Bar Council of India Rules of Legal Education, 2008 and the relevant University Ordinances for consideration in an appropriate case.
