No Mercy in Professional Courses for Pregnancy?

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NO MERCY IN PROFESSIONAL COURSES FOR PREGNANCY?
Gauranshi, 4th Year, BA.LLB (Hons.), Amity Law School
Editorial Note: In this blog post, the author discusses the problem with the stance taken by the Supreme Court in the case of Ankita Meena v University of Delhi and emphasizes the need for the Bar Council of India to develop rules to address the issues faced by pregnant women seeking to complete their professional legal education.

A woman, while being tied up in her matrimonial life, is expected to take care of her family and her beloved ones. In Indian society, females are frequently expected to spend their lives in fulfilling different roles as a mother, a wife and a daughter which require them to put others before them. It is rather unfortunate however, that our society appears to be reluctant in reciprocating for the care that it expects. This is because when a woman dares to step out of their designated societal roles and attempt to live a dignified life on her own terms, more often than not, she is pulled back into the puddle of cultural mandates by the collective forces of law and society. This issue is most evident in the professional sphere where there is no mercy shown to females based on considerations of say, menstruation or pregnancy.

The position becomes clear from the recent case of Ankita Meena v. University of Delhi, in which the Supreme Court denied granting attendance relaxation to a second-year student of the L.L.B. course of Faculty of Law, University of Delhi who had missed college due to her pregnancy. In this case, the petitioner, Ms. Ankita Meena was unable to meet the requisite 70% attendance for sitting in her examinations, since she had missed almost 2 months of the semester due to her pregnancy. In her Special Leave Petition filed in the Supreme Court against the order of the High Court,[i] disallowing her plea for exemption, she pleaded that Delhi University be directed to permit her to appear in the IVth Semester L.L.B. Examination being conducted w.e.f. 16.05.2018. The Supreme Court on a perusal of the facts of the case and the law in this respect, ruled against the petitioner highlighting the fact that L.L.B. is a special professional course where no relaxation can be granted contrary to the Bar Council of India Rules.The court dismissed the petition observing that “once Rule 12 of Rules of Legal Education of the Bar Council of India[ii] prescribes a mandatory attendance of 70% in each semester of L.L.B., no reliance can be placed on Rule 2 (9) (d) of Ordinance VII of Chapter III of Delhi University, which is a general provision that does not deal with a professional course like LLB.”

Earlier the Delhi High Court had ruled that even though there may be justification for the petitioner’s inability to attend regular classes, the relief sought by her cannot be granted to her in the light of the provisions of Rule 12 of Rules of legal Education of the Bar Council of India as also the decisions of the Division Bench of the same Court in the cases of University of Delhi vs. Vandana Kandari[iii] and Sukriti Upadhyay vs. University of Delhi[iv]. Thus, no interim relief was granted by the Supreme Court and the petitioner was required to follow the decision of the Delhi High Court.

It is important to note that this is not the first instance in which educational institutions and courts have denied the pleas of students in terms of relaxation of attendance. Even in case of serious issues, students have often been denied permission to appear in their examinations. Such denial of relaxation have thereafter lead to adverse steps being taken by students since most are not ready to sacrifice their whole academic year when they are detained because of the sole reason of attendance. In the case under discussion, Ankita Meena’s plea was rejected based on the understanding that law is a professional course, wherein no such reliefs can be given. It is however, argued that if such the conduct of professional courses is devoid of humanitarian considerations, then the value of such a professional course is greatly diminished.

Interestingly, there have been various instances where the Bar Council of India has granted relaxation to students on the basis of sympathy. For instance, over 500 students of Faculty of Law, Delhi University, did not fulfill the minimum attendance requirement prescribed by the BCI for the Academic Year 2015-16 but were allowed to take semester examinations on the basis of a letter dated 17.12.2016, sent by the BCI Secretary to the University, asking it to consider the matter “sympathetically for relaxation of attendance rules”. Mr. Singh, former professor at Delhi University, claimed that some of the L.L.B. students had not even taken a single class but were allowed to take the examination.[v] Further, in the case of Vandana Kandari vs. University of Delhi,[vi] the Supreme Court suggested the Bar Council of India to make rules for female students claiming relaxation on the ground of maternity so that they are not deprived of appearing in the LLB examination on account of their pregnancy. It is therefore, unfortunate that no such rules have been framed by the BCI till date for improving their situation.

The need of the hour is thus to initiate new rules in order to improve the situation of students such as Ankita Meena who are in need of proper consideration of their exemption requests from concerned authorities. There are currently no specific guidelines in BCI Rules for dealing with issues such as attendance exemption for pregnant LLB students. It is argued that there needs to be a reconsideration of the existing regime on attendance related issues, so as to provide scope for entertaining the pleas of genuine students in case of serious emergencies. It is suggested that such a system is feasible since after verifying the authenticity of the application for a cited emergency, alternatives like study from home, monthly assignment submissions and tests could be conducted in order to keep a check on students and prevent them from being debarred from writing their examinations.

As stated by Martin Luther King, Jr.,
 “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Hence, it is of utmost importance that this matter be urgently considered so as to prevent future occurrences of this injustice of hindering the right of female students enrolled in professional courses to pursue their education, on account of their choice of embracing motherhood.


[i] Ankita Meena vs. University of Delhi, Delhi High Court (dated 15.05.2018), available at http://lobis.nic.in/ddir/dhc/REP/judgement/16-05-2018/REP15052018CW51942018.pdf
[ii] Rules of Legal Education, Bar Council of India, available at http://www.barcouncilofindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/BCIRulesPartIV.pdf
[iii] University of Delhi vs. Vandana Kandari, Delhi High Court (dated 10.01.2011), available at http://lobis.nic.in/ddir/dhc/SKN/judgement/14-01-2011/SKN10012011LPA6622010.pdf
[iv] Sukriti Upadhyay vs. University of Delhi, Delhi High Court (dated 04.10.2010), available at http://lobis.nic.in/ddir/dhc/DMA/judgement/05-10-2010/DMA04102010LPA5392010.pdf
[v]  'High Court seeks BCI’s explanation on relaxing attendance rules in Delhi University', Indian Express (Dec 25, 2016), available at https://indianexpress.com/article/education/hc-seeks-bcis-explanation-on-relaxing-attendance-rule-in-delhi-university-4444537/
[vi] Vandana Kandari vs. University of Delhi, Delhi High Court (dated 12.07.2010), available at https://indiankanoon.org/doc/80307634/

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