BENGALURU: In a relief to nine postgraduate students of IIMB, the Karnataka High Court on Friday dismissed an appeal filed by the IIMB against a single-judge order that had asked the institute to reconsider the quantum of punishment against the students for an alleged malpractice in an examination.
IIMB imposed ‘disproportionate punishment’ by expelling the students who had formed a WhatsApp group to assist each other in answering questions during an online mid-term exam in 2021. On hearing the students’ plea, the single judge on December 20, 2021 directed IIMB to reconsider the punishment. Against this order, the IIMB filed the appeal.
A division bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Suraj Govindaraj observed that the manual provides that for first-time offenders, zero marks to be given for all exams, and for repeater offenders, grade U (unsatisfactory) plus zero grade etc. No reasons have been assigned as to why some students were punished with severe penalty of expulsion, it said.
The court noted that the manual does provide for severe punishment of expulsion, but it does not mean it has to be resorted to. “We do not find any illegality in the findings… We feel it appropriate that if the students are again involved in such activities of cheating, then IIMB would take serious action against them as per the manual,” the court said.