New Delhi: Students in professional degree courses must pursue their studies with all "seriousness and due diligence", the Delhi High Court has observed while rejecting a student's plea to be permitted to appear in the LLB examination despite falling short of the minimum attendance criterion.Observation Made By The BenchA bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela dismissed a woman student's appeal, challenging a single judge's order that had also rejected her plea seeking permission to appear in the third semester Bachelor of Laws (LLB) examination at the Delhi University's Faculty of Law."While concurring with the reasoning rendered by the single judge, we too are of the considered opinion that the students pursuing such professional degree courses must pursue the said courses with all seriousness and due diligence," the division bench said in an order passed on February 21 and uploaded on Tuesday."There could be an exception to such rigidity, which in all probability must be prescribed in the rules itself," it added.Ordinarily, the shortage in attendance ought not to be otherwise condoned for mere asking, unless some urgent or unavoidable circumstances such as medical emergencies intervene, the bench said.In this case, no such exception has been narrated, it noted and added that it was not persuaded to interfere or interdict the single judge's February 11 judgment.The petitioner student claimed that she was pursuing LLB and enrolled in the third semester. On December 22, 2024, the authorities released a provisional list of detainees, notifying all the students who were unable to meet the minimum attendance criterion.She said her name was included in the final list published on January 4 despite not being in the provisional list and she was not issued the exam admit card.Aggrieved, she approached the high court, seeking removal of her name from the list of detainees.The division bench said it was clear that the petitioner student had the information regarding attendance shortage when she deposited the unpaid fee on time."Apparently, despite attending the remedial classes, it is on record that her total percentage of attendance is only 54 per cent. This has been clearly recorded by the single judge in the impugned order," it said."The rules of the respondent or university prescribe attendance at 70 per cent for eligibility to participate in a particular semester examination," it added.The bench noted that the single judge, by relying on previous judgments of the court, observed that the percentage of attendance stipulated by the university was sacrosanct and could not be underscored in any manner.The single judge also held that the LLB course, being a professional degree, required more serious pursuit than may be a regular degree course, it said. (Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)