Bombay high court permits Pune University’s engineering students to appear for exams

Mumbai: The Bombay high court’s vacation bench of Justices Shyam Chandak and Shreeram Shirsat on Monday granted interim relief to over 600 engineering students of Pune University, allowing them to appear for examinations subject to satisfactorily proving they had cleared the previous semesters sans any backlogs.

The court cited a similar relief granted to hundreds of engineering students recently on similar grounds.

The exam is scheduled to begin on May 27, said advocate Pooja Thorat for one set of over 500 students. The bench orally remarked how students were coming to the HC last minute claiming to have no backlog and citing a varsity circular of a ‘carry on’ policy that enabled them to appear for exams so far. “Is this a sign of responsibility? It is creating a chaotic situation. Be responsible to the court,” Justice Chandak remarked.

Uday Warunjikar, counsel for one original student who had received no interim order last year, did not consent to the applicants who had intervened in his pending petition. The HC clarified its permission is subject to the satisfaction of the university that backlogs are cleared for first-year and second-year and conditions under an August 2025 circular.

Last week, HC had directed Savitribai Phule Pune University to allow 771 students from its affiliated engineering colleges in Pune, Ahilyanagar and Nashik to appear for the third and fourth year exams starting May 20.