Final-year exams to be held, can't promote students without it: SC

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld University Grants Commissionrsquos UGC circular and said that final year college examinations must be held this year but states can ask for the dates to be deferred beyond September 30 if they wanted to because of the coronavirus crisisA bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah said We thus conclude that the State Disaster Management Authority and the State Government has no jurisdiction to take a decision that the students of final yearterminal examination should be promoted on the basis of earlier years assessment and internal assessment whereas the UGC guidelines dated July 6 directed specifically to conduct final yearterminal semester examinationThe top court said the decision of the Disaster Management Authority or the state government that students should be promoted without appearing in the final yearterminal semester examination is not within the domain of the Disaster Management Act 2005The Supreme Court concluded that direction of the University Grants Commission in its revised guidelines dated July 6 where it directs the universities and colleges to complete the final yearterminal examinations by September 30 shall be overridden by any contrary decision taken by a State Disaster Management Authority or the state government exercising power under the Disaster Management Act 2005The bench observed that the revised guidelines of the UGC cannot be termed to violate Article 14 of the Constitution on the ground that one date September 30 has been fixed irrespective of the conditions prevailing in individual states The date for completion of examination was fixed throughout the country to maintain uniformity in the academic calendar noted the bench but made it clear that it was not mandatoryThe top court said state governments under the Disaster Management Act have the power to order postponement of exams in view of the pandemic and for this if a state wants to postpone the final year exams beyond UGC guideline then the state concerned should consult the UGC for fixing a fresh date for the final examination in that stateldquoState cannot promote students without final year examinationsrdquo the apex court saidSeveral petitions including one by Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray had challenged the UGC directive to universities across the country to conduct final year exams by September 30Earlier the top court had asked UGC that if there is a certain situation in a state could it override the state government and take a position on the schedule of the examsOn August 18 in a marathon hearing which lasted for close to four hours the apex court had heard the arguments from a battery of senior advocates appearing for various stakeholders including Arvind P Datar for Maharashtra government Jaideep Gupta for teachers from West Bengal KV Viswanathan Delhi government and the Advocate General for Odisha and West Bengal while Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the UGCThe state governments have argued that they have the power to promote students without exams in the backdrop of the ongoing Covid19 pandemicThe bench had queried Mehta if the UGC could override a state government decision where a certain situation like Covid19 is existing Mehta had submitted before the bench that Covid19 is a national disaster and it is for the Centre to decide and the state authorities cannot override the UGCThe bench said that like the disaster management authority of the state has the authority in healthcare can the UGC override the state and ask it to conduct examsThe bench added May be the UGC can say no degree without exam But can it say hold an exam on this dateMehta contended that the deadline was given for the benefit of the students It is not a diktat All universities must start admissions for postgraduate courses he saidAdvocate Alak Alok Srivastava appearing for a group of students contended that the decision of the committee which made the recommendations making it mandatory to hold exams by September 30 cannot be implemented across the country as there was no proper consultationWith inputs from agenciesKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news