The Delhi High Court has stayed the rustication of a Delhi University (DU) student without notice or hearing, saying such exercise of power has trappings of a dictatorial exercise of authority and cannot be permitted in a society governed by the rule of law.
DU’s Open Learning Development Centre rusticated the petitioner, who was enrolled in the six-month certificate course in bakery and confectionery at the Centre of Innovative Skill Based Courses, on September 10, citing consistent display of inappropriate behaviour in the classroom, which included use of a mobile phone.
It said that affording a meaningful opportunity to a student to place her version before the authority prior was of profound importance, as it has the effect of depriving a student of the opportunity to continue her course of study.
Permitting the petitioner to continue her course, Justice Jasmeet Singh observed that it was difficult to comprehend how an academic institution, which is expected to inculcate discipline, fairness and respect for the rule of law among its students, imposed the harshest disciplinary consequence on a student without following the elementary principles of natural justice.
