JUDGMENT : Hon’ble Alok Singh, J. (Oral) All these writ petitioners are interconnected involving identical questions of fact and law, therefore, these petitions are heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment with the consent of learned counsel appearing for the parties. 2. Brief facts of the present case, inter alia, are that all the petitioners could get admission in under-graduate course through competitive examination in I.I.T, Roorkee for the academic session commencing from 2014-15; undisputedly, I.I.T., Roorkee has made/issued Academic Programmes Ordinance and Regulations, 2014; at the end of the second semester of the first year, it was observed by the Institute that since petitioners could not secured minimum credit in each subject and at least 05 CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average), therefore, as per Regulation 33 (1) (a) read with Appendix J, their enrolment in the Institute stood terminated and they will not be permitted to take admission in the third semester or, in other words, in the second year of the under-graduate course; feeling aggrieved, all the petitioners have preferred all these petitions. 3. Mr. Arvind Vashistha, learned Senior Counsel and Mr. Rakesh Thapliyal, Advocate with Mr. Sanjay Bhatt, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners, contended that as per the policy of the Institute, Institute follows modern methods of continuous evaluation through a credit system in all its under-graduate and five years duel degree programmes; there is no annual/semester pass or fail system. The award system follows letter grades or 10-points scale where performance is measured in terms of the Semester Grade Point Average (SGPA). Mr. Arvind Vashistha further contends that atleast 05 CGPA out of 10 is required even if a student has secured minimum credits in all the subjects during the entire period of the course for award of the degree. He further contends that atleast 05 CGPA out of 10 is not required every year to get promotion in the next year. According to Mr. Arvind Vashistha, the plain language of Regulation 33 (1) (a) demonstrates that only such student shall be discontinued who has failed to secure minimum credit marks in each subject as well as at least 05 out of 10 CGPA. According to Mr. According to Mr. Arvind Vashistha, the plain language of Regulation 33 (1) (a) demonstrates that only such student shall be discontinued who has failed to secure minimum credit marks in each subject as well as at least 05 out of 10 CGPA. According to Mr. Arvind Vashistha, if a student is able to secure minimum credits in each and every subject in both the semesters, he shall be given promotion in the next year, despite the fact that he has failed to secure at least 05 out of 10 CGPA. 4. On the other hand, Mr. Vipul Sharma, learned counsel appearing for the respondents, submits that the plain and simple language of Regulation 33 (1) (a) read with Appendix-J of the Regulation would go to show that for promotion in the next year, a student has to secure minimum credit points in each and every subject as mentioned in the Regulation as well as at least 05 out of 10 CGPA. According to Mr. Vipul Sharma, learned counsel for the respondents, if a student is able to get minimum credit points in each and every subject, however, is not able to secure at least 05 CGPA, his registration shall stand cancelled and he shall not be permitted to take admission in the next year of the course. Mr. Vipul Sharma, learned counsel for the respondents further submits that in the first year, 13 subjects are provided, as shown in Appendix-A of the Regulation and if a student has failed in one or more subjects, however, has passed remaining subjects with higher grade points and is able to secure at least 05 out of 10 CGPA, he shall be permitted to appear in the re-examination to clear those back-papers in which student has failed as per Regulation 18(2). He further contends that if a student is able to secure minimum credit points in each and every subject and at least 05 out of 10 CGPA in each and every year in all the three years, however, in the last fourth year such student is not able to secure minimum CGPA, he shall be given opportunity to appear in the additional subjects to secure the minimum CGPA by way of obtaining credits in the additional courses enabling the Institute to award him Degree. 5. According to Mr. 5. According to Mr. Vipul Sharma, Regulation 34 (2) is applicable only to the students of last year enabling them to get degree on fulfilling the minimum requirement of CGPA. Mr. Vipul Sharma further contends that if a student has secured minimum credit points in each and every subject and he is not able to secure at least 05 CGPA either in first year or second year, such student shall not be allowed to appear in the re-examination as provided in Regulation 18(2) and shall not be allowed to join next year course. Mr. Vipul Sharma, further contends that this provision was made by the Institute keeping in mind that bottom-line students should not be allowed to pursue the studies and only such students shall be allowed to pursue the studies and become engineers who have secured at least 05 CGPA, meaning thereby, only those students who are above the mediocres shall be allowed to complete their course. 6. Regulation 33 as well as Appendix-J of the IIT are reproduced below : Termination 33 Due to Absence of Enrolment (1) If a student registered in the first year of the programme is continuously absent from the classes for the more than four weeks without informing the Course Coordinators, the Coordinator shall immediately bring it to the notice of Chairman, IAPEC/the Head of the concerned as the case may be, for informing the Academic Section. The names of such students shall be removed from the institute rolls and such absence during first year will render the student ineligible for re-admission On Academic Grounds (a) The enrolment of a student in a programme, shall stand terminated if he/she fails to earn the minimum number of credits specified at different yearly levels in the programme as given in Appendix-‘J’ and fails to secure minimum CGPA of 5.00, notwithstanding the fact that the student has or has not been put under academic probation. Semester withdrawal will be excluded to determine the yearly level of a student for this purpose. The condition will also not be applicable if a student is not allowed to register for the courses of current year in accordance with 18 (2). Semester withdrawal will be excluded to determine the yearly level of a student for this purpose. The condition will also not be applicable if a student is not allowed to register for the courses of current year in accordance with 18 (2). The communication regarding termination of enrolment shall be issued by the Academic Section within fifteen days from the date of declaration of results.” (b) The enrolment of a student may be terminated on disciplinary grounds, in accordance with the standing Orders for the students. (c) A student whose enrolment has been terminated may appeal to the Director for reconsideration within fifteen days from the date of issuance of the communication of termination and the appeal will be disposed off within fifteen days. If the appeal is allowed, his/her registration and enrolment shall be restored. MINIMUM REQUIREMENT OF EARNED CREDITS AND CGPA FOR CONTINUATION OF REGISTRATION APPENDIX-J S. Year B. Arch. Integrated Progra- B. No. With Minor With Dual mmes# M.Sc. Arch. Speciali- Honors Degree M.Tech. (IMS) zation (IDD) (IMT) 1. I Yr* 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 2. II Yr 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 3. III Yr 72 72 72 72 72 72 72 4. IV Yr 100 106 106 100 100 100 100 5. V Yr 130 142 142 130 130 130 130 6. VI Yr 160- 178- 178- 162 162 162 162 170** 190** 190** 7. VII Yr - - - 192- 192- 192- 226** 200** 200** 200** * Excluding NCC/NSO/NSS Discipline credits, ** The figure should not be less than the minimum prescribed for the program including Co-Curricular Activities (CCA). # without Honours and Minor specialization NOTE: These Credits include credits earned through Re-examination. In addition to requirement of earned credits each student has to secure at least 5.00 CGPA for continuation of study. 7. The bare reading of Regulation 33 (1) (a) would demonstrate that Registration of a student shall stand terminated if he fails to earn the minimum number of credits specified at different yearly levels in the programme as given in the Appendix-J and fails to secure minimum 05 CGPA, notwithstanding the fact that the student has or has not been put under academic probation. 8. 8. Perusal of Appendix-J would make it further clear that in the first year of the UG Programme, student is required to secure minimum 22 credit points while student of second year is required to secure minimum 46 credit points in all the courses of that year. 9. Appendix-A of the Regulation clarifies what would be the credit points provided for each and every subject of every semester of every year. Regulation 34 reads as under : Earned Minimum Credits and Minimum CGPA for the Degree 34 (1) The credits for the courses in which a student has obtained ‘D’ (minimum passing grade for a course) grade or higher shall be counted as Credit earned by him/her. A student who has a minimum CGPA of 5.0 and earned a minimum number of credits as specified in the UG/IDD/Integrated Masters Degree curriculum he/she is registered for, is eligible for the award of the respective degree. (2) A student, who has earned the minimum credits required for a degree but fails to obtain the minimum specified CGPA for this purpose, shall take additional courses till the minimum CGPA is attained within the maximum time limit for different programmes. 10. Plain and simple reading of Regulation 34 would clarify that a student, who has earned minimum credits required for a degree but fails to obtain the minimum specified CGPA then he shall take additional courses till the minimum CGPA is attained within the maximum time limit for different programmes. As per Regulation 2 (a) (3) the duration of UG Programmes leading to degrees of B.Tech. and B. Arch. are normally four and five years respectively; however, maximum duration for the UG Programme is six years for the degree of B.Tech and seven years for the degree of B. Arch. from the date of initial registration. 11. If Regulation 2 (a) is read along with Regulation 34 (2), the net result would be that a student who is able to secure minimum credit points in each and every subject in all the four years course, however, has failed to secure at least 05 CGPA in the last year of the course, he shall be permitted to take additional courses to complete the minimum CGPA in next two years, meaning thereby, within six years from the year of admission in the case of B.Tech. Course and in the case of B.Arch. Course and in the case of B.Arch. Course, he has to complete and earned minimum 05 CGPA within seven years from the date of initial admission. Regulation 18 reads as under: Subject Registration 18 (1) Every student shall register for the courses that he/she wants to study for earning credits and his/her name will appear in the roll list of each of these courses. No credit shall be given if a student is allowed to attend a course for which he or she is not registered. The performance of a student in all the courses, for which he/she has registered, shall be included in his/her grade card. (2) Student should first register for the courses in which he/she has been declared failed in the previous year/semester as back papers and then register for the remaining courses of the semester to make up the total required credits for that semester. However, a student shall not be allowed to register for the courses offered to students of third year, if he/she has not cleared all the courses of first year and a student shall not be allowed to register for the courses offered to students of fourth year, if he/she has not cleared all the courses of second year and a student shall not be allowed to register for the courses offered to students of fifth year, if he/she has not cleared all the courses of third year. (3) Registration of courses to be taken in a particular semester shall be carried out according to specified schedule. Late registration of courses is allowed only on payment of necessary fees. In-absentia registration may be allowed only in rare cases such as illness or any other contingencies, at the discretion of the Dean, Academics. (4) The Dean, Academics shall assign the time slots for the next semester and inform the Departments/Academic Centres, who shall then assign the teachers and decide the time schedule of the courses to be offered in the next semester. These tasks shall be completed as per Academic Calendar and the time schedule shall be made available by the department to the academic section. It will also be displayed on the notice board of the department for the students at least one week prior to the date of registration. These tasks shall be completed as per Academic Calendar and the time schedule shall be made available by the department to the academic section. It will also be displayed on the notice board of the department for the students at least one week prior to the date of registration. (5) Those students who are joining the first year of the UG or IDD or IMD programme shall complete the registration procedure on a specified registration date as per academic calendar. (6) Under special circumstances, the students may be allowed late registration by the Dean, Academist till a specified date, by paying a late fee of Rs. 1000/-, along with other necessary fees (7) A student may register for a minimum of 12 credits and a maximum of 24 credits. But on the recommendation of the department/centre, Dean, Academics, may allow a student to register for a maximum of 28 credits in not more than two semesters during the entire programme for fulfilling the requirements of minimum earned credits. In case the student is not allowed to register the courses of current semester due to back paper(s) of previous year, he/she may register for credits less than 12 depending on number of back papers. However, the credits for NCC/NSO/NSS Rangering, proficiency and discipline shall not be counted for this purpose. (8) A student shall have the option to add or delete courses from his/her registration during the first ten days of the semester as per Academic Calendar. (9) Before the commencement of classes and at the time of registration, Academic Section shall give each student a registration record which shall be the official record of the courses registered; any change like adding or dropping a course will be marked on this registration record by the student and countersigned by the Chairman, DAPC/CAPC (10) At the time of completing the registration form or any subsequent change in the registration, every student shall consult his/her Programmed Advisor, who shall be appointed by the Chairman, DAPC/CAPC of a department/centre. The Programme Advisor shall advise the student in regard to the minimum and the maximum number of total and lecture credits to be registered for in the context of his/her past performance, backlog of courses, SGPA/CGPA and individual interest. 12. The Programme Advisor shall advise the student in regard to the minimum and the maximum number of total and lecture credits to be registered for in the context of his/her past performance, backlog of courses, SGPA/CGPA and individual interest. 12. As per Regulation 18 (2), if a student has failed to clear any subject of first or second semester, he shall be allowed to re-appear in such subjects along with third or fourth semester, as the case may be, and if again fails to obtain minimum credit points, he shall not be allowed to join third year of the course. 13. Except Anurag Memrot (petitioner in WPMS No. 1780 of 2015) and Mohammad Saif Anwer (petitioner in WPMS No. 1785 of 2015), none of the petitioners was able to secure at least 05 CGPA during the first year of the course although few of them were able to secure minimum credit points for the subjects of first semester and second semester of first year. Since the petitioners are not able to secure at least 05 out of 10 CGPA in first year course, therefore, as per Regulation 33 (1) (a) read with Appendix-J they are not entitled to get promotion in the second year course of the B.Tech programme and their registration/enrollment automatically stood terminated. 14. Mr. Arvind Vashistha, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioners, has vehemently argued that Regulations 2, 18, 33, 34 and Appendix thereto should be interpreted in such a way that such student who has secured minimum credit points in each subject of the course, however has failed to secure at least 05 CGPA in a particular year, should not be thrown out from the Institute rather should be given opportunity to make good deficiency in the next year of the course by allowing him admission in the next year. 15. It is important to point out that validity of Regulations, 2014 has not been challenged. Therefore, this Court has to interpret the Regulations as per rule of interpretation. 16. 15. It is important to point out that validity of Regulations, 2014 has not been challenged. Therefore, this Court has to interpret the Regulations as per rule of interpretation. 16. Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of State of Jharkhand v. Govind Singh reported in (2005) 10 SCC 157, has held that while interpreting the statute Court must keep in mind that if words are clear, there is no obscurity, there is no ambiguity and the intention of the legislature is clearly conveyed, there is no scope for the court to innovate or take upon itself the task of amending or altering the statutory provision; Judges should not proclaim that they are playing the role of a law-maker merely for an exhibition on judicial valour. 17. Since, language of Regulation 33 (1) (a) read with Appendix-J is clear, which provides that a student, who has failed to secure at least 05 CGPA shall not be permitted to continue the study, therefore, this Court by diluting the words mentioned in Appendix-J cannot permit the students to make good their deficiency in CGPA in the next semester/year of the course. 18. Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology and another v. Gagandeep Sharma and another reported in (2001) 9 SCC 157 , in paragraph no. 16, has held as under : “16. … The court would normally not interfere with such prescribed standards and especially when they are intended to improve the academic standards in their respective institutes. The scope of judicial review in such matters would be very limited.” 19. In the case of G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology v. Ashok Kumar Arya reported in 2005 (2) U.D., 8, Division Bench of this Court has occasioned to deal with the issue of CGPA and has held as under : “6….The Hon’ble Supreme Court has time and again held that in academic matters, Courts should not be swayed by sympathy or compassion and should not direct the academic bodies or University authorities to ignore or violet the provisions contained in the rules and regulations governing academic matters. We also are of the view that such directions by Courts to ignore or violate the rules and regulations governing academic matters will result in fall of the standard of education and increase of indiscipline in the educational institutions and that it will not be in public interest. Even out of sympathy or compassion, the jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India cannot be exercised against public interest. The power under Article 226 is a weapon to be used in aid of and for the protection of public interest. We are firmly of the view that in academic matters, the authorities of the Universities and educational institutions must be left free to strictly and uniformly enforce the rules and regulations in order to maintain high standard of education and proper discipline. Any interference by Courts swayed by sympathy or compassion will only create chaos and confusion in the educational field. Hence, even if the petitioner will have to discontinue the course forever, the impugned judgment is liable to be set aside.” 20. In the case of Anurag Memrot (petitioner in WPMS No. 1780 of 2015) and in the case of Mohammad Saif Anwer (petitioner in 1785 of 2015) admittedly both the students were able to secure at least 05 CGPA, however, failed to secure minimum credits of the different subjects/courses. Therefore, both of them stand on different footing and cannot be debarred in reappearing in the examination along with third and fourth semester, respectively in terms of Regulation 18 (2) of the Regulations. 21. Consequently, all the writ petitions except WPMS No. 1780 of 2015 and WPMS No. 1785 of 2015 are dismissed, however, WPMS No. 1780 of 2015 and WPMS No. 1785 of 2015 are hereby allowed. Order canceling the enrollment/registration of both the petitioners is hereby set aside. Respondents are directed to take appropriate decision in the light of the discussions made hereinabove afresh in the matter of both the petitioners, in any case, within a week from today and to do the needful. 22. No order as to costs. 23. All the CLMAs also stand disposed of accordingly. 24. Let a copy of this judgment be placed in each and every connected writ petition. 25. Let certified copy of this judgment be supplied within twenty-four hours on payment of usual charges.