Supreme Court has accepted the petition by 31 students against the UGC guidelines to conduct the final year examination in all the universities. The University Grants Commission (UGC) will submit its reply within 3 days to the Court and the next hearing on the matter will be conducted on July 31, reports NDTV.
It was earlier reported that the Court will be hearing the case of 31 students from various universities seeking court’s interference on the Commission’s guidelines issued on July 6 stating that all universities must conduct the final year exam before September 30. The petition was heard by a bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta in his argument repeated what UGC had mentioned last week that 818 universities have responded to their request on the preparedness to conduct the final year exam. The UGC had informed that at least 603 universities have either conducted the final year exam or plan on conducting before September 30.
The petition filed by the students said that exams amid the worsening COVID-19 pandemic situation is not safe for the students and should be cancelled in the interest of justice for the students. The petition asks that the result should be calculated based on internal assessment and previous performance and the mark sheet should be issued before July 31.
Several states including Maharashtra, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana have used the Epidemic Diseases Act and Disaster Management Act to cancel the university exams in the state. UGC in an affidavit filed at Bombay High Court had said the epidemic disease act cannot be used to negate the “statutory provisions of another special Act such as The University Grants Commissioner Act nugatory”.
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