A student enrolled at the Center of Innovative Skills-Based Courses was recently rusticated by Delhi University for alleged inappropriate behaviour. The Delhi High Court stayed the rustication, terming it a dictatorial exercise of authority.
A student enrolled in a six-month certificate course in bakery and confectionery at Delhi University’s Center of Innovative Skills-Based Courses, which operates under the Open Learning Development Centre (OLDC), was rusticated on 10 September. The university cited inappropriate behaviour in the classroom.
The Delhi High Court has labelled the rustication “dictatorial”, as it came without notice or a hearing. Justice Jasmeet Singh found it difficult to comprehend how a prestigious institution like Delhi University took such a harsh step without following the elementary principles of natural justice.
The court emphasised that an institution’s autonomy does not give it an arbitrary power to punish its students. It asked the university to file a response stating the basis of the rustication.
The High Court passed an order on 30 September saying, “The manner in which the respondent Nos. 2 and 3 have proceeded is, to say the least, dictatorial… The very manner in which the power has been exercised, without notice and without hearing, bears the trappings of a dictatorial exercise of authority and cannot be permitted in a society governed by the rule of law.”
The court also said that it was the institution’s responsibility to place the student before it and hear her version before taking such an extreme step, which it found to be a complete disregard of the foundational principles of justice.
The court has allowed the student to continue the course while it awaits the university’s reply.
Vanshika U Singh
Image Credits: Getty Images
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