Supreme Court adjourns UGC final year exams' case till August 10

Guwahati: The Supreme Court on July 31 adjourned the matter pertaining to the plea against University Grants Commission's (UGC's) decision to compulsorily conduct final year exams till August 10.

In today's hearing, the apex court asked the UGC to file the Union Home Ministry's (MHA) stand. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured that the MHA's response will be filed by August 3. Tushar Mehta also said, "Nobody should be under the impression that students cannot prepare for the examination."

Senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for the final year students in today's hearing. He explained how there have been almost 1.6 million coronavirus cases in India. Also, he said that the optional examination system will be problematic because there will be chaos if some students are unable to appear in the examinations. "Heavens will not fall if exams are cancelled", he added.

Meanwhile, the three-judge SC bench headed by Ashok Bhushan also enquired about the views of the state disaster management committee of Maharashtra. Earlier, in June, the Maharashtra government had decided to cancel exams for the final year students based on the decision of the state disaster management authority. However, this was soon superseded by the UGC decision in July to conduct compulsory examination for final year students.

UGC had asked all universities to conduct examinations in offline, online, or blended mode by September end. It further stated that if the students are unable to appear for the exams by September 30th, he or she will be given an opportunity to appear a specially conducted exam on a later date.

However, the 31 petitioners argued that the UGC's response does not take into account the hassles faced by students if the exams get postponed. They also raised concerns that job prospects and future admission opportunities will be hampered. Several state governments like Maharashtra, West Bengal were against the UGC's decision.

Presently, out of the 818 universities in India, 209 have already completed examinations, 394 are in the process of completion, and 35 are yet to reach the final year exams, informed SG Tushar Mehta in a July 27 hearing. 

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