V. Sundara Rao vs Nagarjuna University, Guntur and another

Common questions of law and fact are involved in this batch of writ petitions therefore the writ petitions are being disposed of by a single order.

The net controversy in these petitions is, whether the regulations introduced from the academic year 1994-95 shall be applicable to the students who were admitted in the sessions prior to 1994-95. Certain candidates were admitted in 1993-94, they were detained in terms of the new Regulations. They came to the Court and most of the candidates filed these writ petitions each seeking directions to allow them to appear firstly in Second year, then in third year and then in fourth year of B.Tech course.

I think the points raised in these writ petitions are no longer res Integra. I have heard the learned Counsel for the parties at length and therefore all the petitions are disposed of by this order.

The point raised in these petitions that, whether the regulations issued after the students had been admitted are applicable to them or not, has already been decided by a Division Bench of this Court in Writ Appeal No.1216 of 1986 title Osnmnia University v. B. Komaraiah and others. Many questions were raised in that case. The Court held :

"Is there any justification for such a hurry in applying them to the students who were previously admitted and to whom they were not applied at the I year examination and for whom the particulars of the new Regulations were not available till 1986, that is, when they were about to appear for the II year examination. In Punjab University Vs. Subash Chander and Another, , relied upon by the Counsel for the University the question was about the grace marks to be given to the students. As the name ''grace marks'' itself suggests the students may not have any vested right to have the benefit of some grace marks throughout their period of study. The Act does not confer the power to make Regulations with retrospective effect. In this case, serious consequences will follow if new Regulations are applied to the students, who have already been allowed to join the II year course without insisting upon the application of the new regulations. They will have to bear the load of papers of both the years at the time of the II year examination as the make-up examination is abolished and the examination for the papers for both the years will be held at the same time. Such a situation is not even contemplated by the new Regulations. In effect, by the action of the authorities creates a hybrid situation not contemplated by either of the Regulations casting a heavy load on the students at the end of the II year and depriving them of the opportunity to appear at the supplementary examinations without providing for any Academic activity for one full year, if they are detained. Apart from this, nothing is made out for such an urgency or hurry to apply the new Regulations to this particular batch of students admitted to the I Year Engineering in 1984-85 is, therefore, patenlly arbitrary and illegal. They shall be governed by the old Regulations for the entire B.E. Course for the number of backlogs, joining the higher class etc. The order of the learned single Judge directing promotion, however, is modified by the direction mentioned above. The Writ Appeal is dismissed with the aforesaid modification. No costs. It is clarified that the directions will apply to all students admitted in me I year B.E. during 1984-85 whether they have approached the Court so far or not."

There is no dispute on the question as to when the new Regulations were introduced. In the counter-affidavit filed in WP NO.6796 of 1998 it has been specifically stated by the respondents that the new regulations were introduced from the academic year 1994-95.

For the above reasons, following the judgment in WANo.1216 of 1986,1 dispose of these writ petitions with the following direction:

That, the candidates admitted prior to the academic year 1994-95 shall be treated in terms of the earlier Regulations, whereas the candidates admitted from the academic year 1994-95 shall be treated in accordance with the new Regulations.

With these directions the writ petitions are disposed of.