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The Karnataka High Court of division bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Suraj Govindaraj has upheld a Single Bench order which had set aside Indian Institute of Management's (Bangalore) decision to expel 9 students for cheating in examinations.

The respondents are students enrolled in post graduate programs in IIM-B. During an online mid-term examination the students had formed a ‘WhatsApp’ group to involve themselves in assisting each other in answering questions.

The management of the institute decided to expel certain students and assign '0' marks to certain other students caught in the incident.

The decision was challenged in the High Court and the Sigle Judge relied on certain provisions of the Program Manual 2021- 2022 to come to the conclusion that a lenient view is required to be taken for the first-time offenders.

This decision was appealed against in the present case. 

The Court however dismissed the managements case considering that the manual clearly provides that for the first-time offenders, zero marks shall be awarded in all examination/test/quiz.

The Court noted that the management has assigned no reasons as to why such severe view has been taken for some students resulting in expulsion, whereas other students 'similarly situated' have been only been given '0' marks. 

The Court further noted that,

"The provisions under the manual in exceptional circumstances do provide for severe penalty including possible expulsion but it does not mean that every time the stringent punishment of expulsion should be resorted to and lenient view cannot be taken, more so when the stringent punishment is an exception to the punishment provided for first-time offenders being awarded zero marks."

However, the Court stated that given that the students are studying in the apex management institute and their career is at stake, if they involve themselves in any further such activities, then the management could be free to take appropriate action against them in accordance with the manual.

Cause Title: Indian Institute of Management Bangalore vs Daivanti Thakare & Ors.