The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking extension of the temporary relief granted to LL.B students against being debarred from appearing in examinations on account of shortage of attendance to PhD students.

A Bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and AG Masih was hearing the plea seeking similar protection for PhD scholars.

The Bench clarified that the relief granted by the Court in the case concerning law students was specifically confined to students pursuing BA LLB or LLB courses and could not be extended to PhD students.

“You can't get benefit of the Delhi High Court order that only gave liberty to the BA LLB or LLB students that you will not be debarred on account of short attendance. It doesn't extend to PhD students,” the Bench observed.

Counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that the principle underlying the relief was the same and therefore ought to apply to PhD scholars as well.

Justice Vikram Nath, however, remarked, “You are mature people, why should you...,” before the Bench dismissed the plea.

The Supreme Court had earlier granted one-time interim relief to law students in an appeal arising from the Delhi High Court's order concerning attendance requirements prescribed by the Bar Council of India (BCI). The Court had directed that students covered by the order should not be debarred from appearing in examinations during the ongoing academic session solely on account of shortage of attendance.

The earlier relief was granted in the context of the dispute over the applicability of BCI attendance norms to law students and was not framed as a general relaxation of attendance requirements across academic courses.