The Supreme Court has granted a one-time relief to law students who were prevented from appearing in examinations due to shortage of attendance, holding that students whose academic session was ongoing when the Delhi High Court delivered its judgment in the Sushant Rohilla case should not lose an academic year because of the uncertainty surrounding attendance norms.
A Bench of Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice R. Mahadevan passed the directions while hearing a batch of petitions, including writ petitions challenging the Bar Council of India’s attendance rules and Special Leave Petitions arising from the Delhi High Court’s judgment.
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The Court noted that the Delhi High Court, in its judgment dated November 3, 2025, had directed the Bar Council of India (BCI) to revisit mandatory attendance norms for three-year and five-year LL.B. courses and had restrained law colleges from detaining students or preventing them from appearing in examinations solely on the ground of attendance shortage during the period of review. Acting upon the judgment, the BCI had also issued communications to law colleges directing them not to debar students while the attendance norms were under reconsideration.
The Supreme Court observed that these directions created a legitimate expectation among students that attendance shortage alone would not prevent them from taking examinations. It noted that many students consequently did not attend classes regularly and later faced the prospect of losing an entire academic session after the Supreme Court stayed the Delhi High Court’s directions prospectively on May 26, 2026.
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Recognising the exceptional circumstances, the Bench held that students who acted under a bona fide belief based on the Delhi High Court’s judgment and the BCI’s communications deserved the benefit of doubt as a one-time measure. Accordingly, it directed that students whose academic session was ongoing when the Delhi High Court delivered its judgment shall not be detained or prevented from appearing in the final examinations for that academic session solely on account of attendance shortage.
The Court further clarified that if such students had already missed their examinations, either wholly or partially, they must be permitted to appear in the supplementary examinations for that session. At the same time, it emphasised that the interim stay granted on May 26, 2026, would continue to operate prospectively, meaning that the one-time relaxation would not govern future academic sessions.
The matter is listed for August 25 for final disposal.
