Sixteen suspended students of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, Kerala, have approached the Supreme Court challenging a Kerala High Court order that denied them permission to appear for their semester examinations. The students have sought urgent judicial intervention, arguing that the High Court’s decision could result in the loss of an entire academic semester. Their petition comes as the university examinations are scheduled to begin on November 4, 2026.
The petitioners, who belong to the Students Federation of India (SFI), have challenged the November 3 judgment of a Kerala High Court Division Bench that overturned an earlier interim order. On October 30, a Single Judge had permitted the suspended students to appear for the examinations, subject to the final outcome of their pending case challenging the suspension. However, the university appealed against the decision, arguing that the students did not meet the minimum attendance requirements, had not cleared the prescribed internal assessments and had failed to complete the examination registration process within the stipulated deadline. The Division Bench accepted the university’s arguments and set aside the interim relief.
The students were suspended on September 1 following a protest held on the university campus on August 13 during a Syndicate meeting. The incident reportedly involved a controversial mock funeral performance and allegations of physical manhandling of the Vice-Chancellor. The university initiated disciplinary proceedings and restricted the students from entering the campus, except for attending enquiry-related proceedings.
In their special leave to appeal before the Supreme Court, the students have submitted that the deficit in attendance due to the suspension was due to the suspension itself and that there is no other reason for the absence. The students also submitted that the university cannot be permitted to take recourse to the effects of its suspension order.The petition further challenges the High Court’s decision to consider the provisional permission to take examinations as substantially equivalent to the final relief sought in the original case.
The students have requested the Supreme Court to restore the Single Judge’s interim order and allow them to appear provisionally for the remaining examination papers. They have also sought directions for special examinations for papers they may miss before the Supreme Court considers their plea. The petition has been filed through Advocate-on-Record Subhash Chandran and is being sought for urgent consideration.
The matter has brought attention to the intersection of university disciplinary proceedings, students’ academic rights and examination eligibility regulations. The Supreme Court’s consideration of the petition is expected to be important for determining the immediate academic position of the suspended students.
