The Allahabad High Court has recently directed the Allahabad University administration to pay a compensation of Rs 50,000 to a student who wasn’t allowed to join its master’s degree course even though he cleared the entrance examination.
Justice Ashutosh Srivastava stated that the university changed the rules of eligibility after the selection process for the masters in women studies course for the academic session 2022-2023 had begun.
The court asked the university to deposit Rs 50,000 as compensation to the student Ajay Singh within a fortnight.
The court observed, “The Allahabad University proceeded to change the rules of eligibility after the selection process already commenced. The amended criteria could not be applied to the case of the petitioner.”
The petitioner cleared the entrance examination for the course but the varsity administration rejected his candidature on grounds that he doesn’t fulfil the criteria laid down by the university on June 25, 2022, which was notified on July 29, 2022.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the university is wrong to hold Singh ineligible for admission, stating “the rules of the game could not have been changed after the game had begun”. He submitted that the online registration for the entrance test was held between June 11 & July 1.
In its decision dated January 10 the court stated, “The petitioner applied for admission to the session 2022-23. The session has already commenced, rather it is on the verge of coming to an end.”
Furthermore, it said, “No fruitful purpose would be achieved by directing the university to consider the candidature of the petitioner for admission to the course MA women studies now.”
The court observed that the petitioner “has suffered immensely” and was “dragged into unnecessary litigation and was compelled to approach this court on 3 occasions”.
The court added, “In the opinion of the court, the petitioner is liable to be compensated with costs quantified at Rs 50,000 which shall be payable to the petitioner by the university within a fortnight.”
