New Delhi: University Grants Commission (UGC) is keen on conducting exams for final year students by September 2020. However, there are pleas from states across the country that have challenged the circular issued by UGC on July 6 regarding the decision of conducting the exams. While the students urged the court to allow colleges to grant them marks based on assessments and past performances.
Meanwhile, as the SC heard the bunch of pleas today, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, on behalf of UGC at the SC today has apparently mentioned that students must continue to prepare for the exams and in fact, he also mentioned how the law states that they cannot get a degree without exams.
However, as of today, the hearing has been postponed to August 14 by a bench that includes Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy, and MR Shah. The bench has also asked if the guidelines laid by UGC can be overruled by the Disaster Management Act.
On behalf of the students, Advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, went on to question the validity as well as the legality of the guidelines regarding the conducting of exams laid by UGC and not just the fact that the exams must be conducted. And now, he has been allowed to file a consolidated reply mentioning the current situation of all states regarding the final year exam guidelines.
Meanwhile, Mehta also raised a question regarding affidavits filed by Delhi and Maharashtra regarding the decision to not file exams since it is on UGC to make such decisions. After having said that, he has sought time to reply to those affidavits.
While UGC has already stated that it has received responses from 818 universities and 209 of them have already conducted the exams. The latest reports, on the other hand, state that over 394 universities plan on conducting the exams within September 2020 and it is keen on conducting exams since the very first hearing.
The decision regarding the exams remains to be pending as UGC and the states are in opposition. Meanwhile, UGC has mentioned in its affidavit how the decision is to simply ensure that the academic future of the students is safeguarded, it has also informed that the states of Delhi and Maharashtra cannot be exempted from the guidelines as it will be contradictory.
