The Supreme Court on Sunday dismissed a plea seeking to cancel the pending Class 10 board examinations in Rajasthan to be held between July 29 and July 30, Bar and Bench reported. Observing that no new cases of the coronavirus have been reported from exam halls so far, the court said it found no reason to interfere with the dates set by the board of secondary education of Rajasthan.

The top court was hearing an appeal filed by Maghi Devi, a mother of a Class 10 student, against the May 29 order of the Rajasthan High Court, whereby the court had allowed the state board to conduct the examinations but with necessary precautions. The plea contended that over 11 lakh students would be exposed to the virus if they are allowed to appear for the exams.

Advertisement

A three-judge bench of the top court led by Justice AM Khanwilkar, however, observed that the petition does not cite a single instance where complaints have been made about the inappropriate facilities or the possibility of exposure of the students due to breach of standard operating procedure issued by the government to contain the Covid-19 outbreak.

The court further refused to intervene in the matter in view of the recent judgement it had passed for the Karnataka board exams, where it had quashed a plea seeking the cancellation of exams in the state. “Taking over all view of the matter, we decline to interfere in this Special Leave Petition,” the court said. “The Special Leave Petition is dismissed accordingly.”

Last week, the Supreme Court approved the notification submitted by the Central Board of Secondary Education about cancelling the remaining exams for Classes 10 and 12 and said that board exam results will be announced by July 15. This came after the Centre and the CBSE had informed the top court that they decided to cancel the pending board exams because of safety concerns during the coronavirus pandemic.