On Friday, August 28 2020, the Supreme court stated that without conducting final year examinations universities and states could not promote final year students. It further said that the state and universities could approach the University Grant Commission for an extension of the deadline for conducting the exams if they are finding it challenging to conduct in the stipulated date.
Earlier UGC asked universities and states to hold examinations by September 30. It also revoked the July 6 UGC guidelines and said that the decision by any state disaster management authority to postpone the exam in the current pandemic would prevail.
The UGC said that the July 6 guidelines were formulated after consulting experts and experienced people and had been finalised after proper discussion. It is very disproportionate to claim that universities and states cannot conduct final year examinations in accordance with the UGC guidelines.
The UGC informed the court that the instructions given by them to the universities and states to conduct final year exams by September 30 aren’t a problem amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the states and universities could not take the decision of promoting the final year students without conducting the examinations.
In accordance with the UGC’s decision the court states that if any state feels that it is next to impossible to conduct final year examination by September 30 in this pandemic, then they can approach the UGC for a new date to conduct the examination and ask for an extension.
Reacting to the decisions taken by some states like Delhi and Maharashtra to cancel the final year examination due to COVID-19, the UGC said that such a decision would affect the standard of education in our country and would be an invasion in the higher education system.
A petitioner kept his point in front of the high court and said that no one is against the UGC for conducting university examinations in a normal situation and normal times, but the students are challenging the decision of UGC because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to this, the UGC said that final year examination is a significant step in the educational career of students and the state government can not say that it’s July 6 directive was not restraining.
