The order was passed by a division bench of the court comprising Chief Justice Y Bhaskar Rao and Justice A M Farooq while disposing of a writ appeal filed by the student Vasudha B Rao from the City.

She had stated that she joined the medical course during 1996--97 and took up the May 1998 examination. She scored 35 marks in Biochemistry theory paper while her total marks in the subject stood at 58 out of 120 including viva and internal assessment. The results declared her as failed in the examinations and prevented her from joining second year MBBS.

She and several others filed a writ petition before the High Court and the court on June 31 last year disposed of the petition directing the University to consider the question of formulating appropriate guidelines for awarding grace or moderation marks tothe qualified students as per the Medical Council of India (MCI) regulations. Following the court order, the MCI on Aug 29 issued a notification on the grace or moderation marks for MBBS course of 1996--97 batch.

The MCI stipulated five marks as grace for the students failed in only one subject but imposed a condition that the student should obtain a minimum of 40 per cent in theory examination of the failed subject. Aggrieved by the notification, Vasudha again approached the Court which dismissed her petition upholding the MCI notification.

She filed the writ appeal before the bench contending that the question of grace marks in the subject should only be applicable to students who secured less than 40 per cent marks in theory and scored a 50 per cent aggregate in the failed subject. Excluding such persons would make the notification unreasonable, the petition stated.