Yes. KTU allows the minimum attendance requirement to be relaxed from 75% down to 60%, and the decision rests with your college Principal — not the University. The manual does not use the word “condonation” for it; it is written as the Principal’s power to relax the minimum attendance requirement.
The rule sits in R8.1 of the B.Tech 2019 Regulation and in the corresponding RU-2 clause of the 2015 Regulation. Separately from this, there is a duty leave relaxation for sports and co-curricular activities, which works differently and is covered further down.
The core rule
| Item | Provision |
|---|---|
| Normal minimum attendance | 75% in each course |
| Relaxed minimum | 60% |
| Who grants it | The college Principal |
| Grounds | Medical grounds (2019); long illness or major personal tragedies and contingencies (2015) |
| Scope | One or more courses registered in that semester |
| Lifetime limit | Any two semesters across the entire programme |
Note the last row, because it is the limit most students find out about too late. The relaxation is not available every semester. You get it in two semesters only for the whole four years, so using it in S1 and S2 for minor illness leaves you with nothing if something serious happens in S6.
The 2019 wording is narrower
The 2015 Regulation permits relaxation “in case of long illness or major personal tragedies/contingencies.” The 2019 Regulation (R8.1) says the Principal can relax the requirement “on medical ground.”
On a plain reading, the 2019 clause is tighter — it names medical grounds and does not carry the personal-tragedy language forward. If you are on the 2019 scheme and your absence was not medical, do not assume the relaxation will apply.
The Principal must keep the records
The regulation requires the Principal to keep all records that led to the attendance decision, for verification by the Academic Auditors or University officials. Under the 2015 wording it is the Academic Auditor specifically.
This matters to you in one practical way: the decision is auditable, so it will be documented. Produce your medical certificate and supporting papers to the college properly rather than relying on a verbal assurance.
Duty leave is a separate relaxation
Do not confuse the 60% relaxation with duty leave. Duty leave is attendance relaxation granted for representing the institution, and it has its own caps under R8.2 and R8.3.
| Clause | For | Maximum relaxation |
|---|---|---|
| R8.2 | Officially sponsored national level competitions, championships and tournaments | 10% |
| R8.3 | Organising extra-curricular and co-curricular activities | 5% |
Both come with hard conditions:
- Documents must be produced within ten days of the event. Late applications are not considered on any account.
- Certificates must be countersigned by the University Sports Coordinator or Director of Physical Education for sports, and by the Senior Faculty Advisor for other activities.
- They go to the Principal through the Head of the Department’s recommendation.
- The Principal shall not consider the documents under any circumstances if the overall attendance is below 60%.
- For R8.2, you must have taken official prior permission from the University to represent it.
60% is the floor everywhere
Read the two provisions together and 60% emerges as an absolute floor. The Principal cannot relax below it on medical grounds, and duty leave documents cannot be considered at all once you are under it. There is no route in the regulation to sit an end semester examination on less than 60% attendance in a course.
Below 75% without a relaxation, you are awarded an FE grade under R6.6 and must re-register for the course when it is next offered.
Prolonged illness is handled differently
Both regulations point elsewhere for serious cases. If the illness is prolonged, the route is not attendance relaxation but break of study under R7.1, which requires prior University approval — the Principal uploads the request with supporting documents and a recommendation to the University portal.
The distinction is worth getting right early. Relaxation preserves your semester at a cost of one of your two lifetime chances; break of study pauses the programme instead.
What this means in practice
Three things to hold on to. First, the relaxation is discretionary — the regulation says the Principal can relax, not that a student is entitled to it on producing a certificate. Second, it is per semester, capped at two semesters for the whole programme, so treat it as a reserve rather than a routine fix. Third, clearing 60% only restores your eligibility to sit the exam; it does not restore the CIE attendance marks you lost, which are awarded proportionally and separately.
Source: APJAKTU Academic Manual V3 (2022), B.Tech 2019 Regulation R6.6, R7.1, R8.1, R8.2 and R8.3; B.Tech 2015 Regulation RU-2