Gujarat High Court orders readmission of students terminated during pandemic

Gandhinagar: The Gujarat High Court on Friday ordered readmission of students terminated by colleges for not appearing in the exams in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Justice N.V. Anjaria ordered the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Institute of Technology (SVNIT) to readmit the students.

The court observed that many students were depressed during the Covid-19 pandemic, which could not be the reason to terminate them.

The SVNIT had cancelled the admission of Krishabh, a first year student in B.Tech, who failed to appear in the exams.

The Dean of the college had asked his parents to provide a medical certificate supporting their claim for an exemption.

The parents did provide the certificate to proved that the student had suffered from depression.

Following this, the college had cancelled his admission.

The SVNIT cited that the institute would not admit mentally sick students.

The parents then approached the Gujarat High Court.

Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Ronit Joy submitted that the student was suffering from depression owing to the situation.

He constantly thought of committing suicide.

For such a situation he could not appear for the exams. But thereafter, he cleared the supplementary exams and despite that the college cancelled his admission, the advocate told the court.

The court ordered the institute to readmit the student within a fortnight so that he could resume his studies.