MUMBAI, May 19 -- The Bombay High Court on Monday permitted 751 engineering students of the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) to appear for their third and fourth year examinations scheduled from May 20, despite having backlogs in their first and second years, respectively. A vacation bench of justices Gautam A Ankhad and Sandesh D Patil said under the "carry on" policy introduced by the state government last year, the students had already been allowed to enroll in the third and fourth years despite backlogs in earlier years; hence, they deserved interim protection to avoid academic prejudice at the eleventh hour. The court directed the university to accept and verify the students' examination forms within 24 hours to ensure that they were able to appear for the exams. The 751 engineering students had moved the high court on May 13, challenging the SPPU's decision to defer the examination of provisionally admitted students till the high court decided on a clutch of earlier petitions regarding the "carry on" policy. The government resolution (GR) regarding the policy was issued on February 10, 2025, granting an additional opportunity to students with first and second year backlogs to provisionally enroll in the third and fourth years, respectively. However, on April 10 and May 5 this year, the SPPU issued circulars stating the examination of provisionally admitted students would be conducted after the final decision of the high court. In their petition, the 751 students alleged the university had, "completely contrary" to the high court's earlier order, denied them permission to fill their third and fourth year exam forms. The university had only allowed those students to fill the exam forms who were represented before the high court in earlier petitions, the petitioners clarified....