The Chief Justice of Madras High Court Sanjay Kishan Kaul on Thursday said suspending a third-year college student for one long year on a charge of having consumed liquor outside the institution on a holiday was too harsh a punishment.
During the hearing of a writ appeal that came up before the First Bench comprising himself and Justice S. Manikumar, the Chief Justice said the punishment imposed on the student was certainly not proportional to the alleged misdeed committed by him.
“I agree that teachers must be respected but they should also be compassionate. A student should not be treated like a convict. Admittedly, he had consumed liquor only outside the college campus and there is no prohibition in the State,” the Chief Justice pointed out.
Be sympathetic
He asked G.R. Swaminathan, counsel for Vivekananda College, a residential institution which imparts Gurukul pattern of education at Tiruvedagam near here, to advise his clients to consider the student’s case sympathetically and allow him to write the final-year examinations this year.
Later, the hearing was adjourned till Friday at the request of the college counsel. In his arguments, the appellant’s counsel said the student had been accused of having consumed liquor when he was allowed to go on an outing along with his friends on a Sunday evening.
Though the suspension was initially challenged by a writ petition, a single judge of the High Court dismissed the case on April 8 on the ground that condoning such misdeeds would set a bad precedent in a college that gave importance to inculcating discipline among students.
“A student should not be treated like a convict”
