Salt Lake: The government doesn't approve of colleges allowing students to take university exams by paying a fine for shortage of attendance, education minister Partha Chatterjee said on Thursday.

Such students should be barred from taking the exams, he said.

Surendranath Law College had asked 447 students who don't have the required attendance - 60 per cent - to pay a fine of Rs 2,000 for taking the semester exams.

"Each and every student must attend classes on every working day. If students do not have the required attendance, they should be strictly not allowed to write exams. We are very clear about this policy," minister Chatterjee said.

"We don't want colleges to charge fines and allow them to take exams despite not attending classes. We are completely opposed to the idea."

Chatterjee was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme organised by the school education department to discuss better implementation of the midday meal scheme in Bengal.

The higher education department will ask Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee, the vice-chancellor of Calcutta University, to which Surendranath Law College is affiliated, to seek an explanation from the college regarding the fine, he said.

Calcutta University does not allow colleges to charge fines for shortage of attendance.

The state government believes regular attendance is important in the choice-based credit system, a higher education department official said.

Universities across the state did away with annual exams and introduced biannual exams in commerce last year and in science and arts this year.

The CBCS was introduced in LLb courses a few years ago.

Despite repeated attempts Mohammadi Tarannum, the teacher in-charge of Surendranath Law College, couldn't be reached on phone on Thursday.

On Wednesday she had said that the governing body of the college knew of the university rule but had adopted a unanimous resolution to fine the students because they "perpetually skip classes".

After noticing that a huge number of students had fallen short of the minimum attendance, the college decided to hold special classes for such students so that they could make up for the deficit, Tarannum said. But the students paid no heed and many skipped the classes.

The university requires every student to have 75 per cent attendance. Colleges can allow students with attendance between 60 and 74 per cent to take exams after paying a nominal fine and explaining their absence with documents such as medical certificates. Those with less than 60 per cent attendance cannot take exams.