Cancellation of board exams a policy matter; can court interfere, asks Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court on Thursday said examinations of Classes 10 and 12 are now being cancelled all over the country owing to the second wave of the Covid19 pandemic and asked if the court can interfere in such policy mattersThe court asked that at a time when gatherings are being avoided due to the coronavirus situation is it right to make children assemble at one place to take the examsA division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni questioned Punebased professor Dhananjay Kulkarni who had filed a petition challenging the Maharashtra governments decision to cancel the SSC Class 10 board exams this year due to surge in Covid19 cases as to what was the manifest arbitrariness in the said decisionWhat is the manifest arbitrariness Why do you say that these exams need to be held Tomorrow if students get affected with Covid19 then who will take responsibility Are you petitioner willing to take responsibility Chief Justice Datta saidAlso Read Happy to note government decided to cancel class 12 board exams SCThe court noted that all over the country board examinations are being cancelled and the decision is being taken by expert bodiesThis is a matter of policy where the Executive has taken a decision It may appear as foolish to you petitioner or sometimes even us but that is no ground for us to interfere The only ground where we can interfere is when there is manifest arbitrariness and the decision infringes upon a persons fundamental right the court saidThe court further said that the second wave of the Covid19 pandemic was more lethalWhen we are all avoiding congregations is it right to make children assemble at one place to take the exams We cannot play with their students lives especially in this second wave the bench saidAdvocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told the court that the Common Entrance Test CET which will be held by the governments education board for admission to Class 11 would be open for students from all boards and not just the state boardThe petitioners advocate Uday Warunjikar then told the court that he would withdraw this petition with liberty to file a fresh petition challenging the May 28 government resolution by which a formula was devised on how to evaluate Class 10 studentsThe court permitted the same and said The petition is dismissed as withdrawnTwo weeks ago while hearing the same petition a division bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and S P Tavade had come down heavily on the Maharashtra government over the cancellation of the Class 10 exam saying it was making a mockery of the education systemIt had sought a reply as to why the decision to cancel the exam should not be set aside and said the government cannot spoil students career and future in the name of pandemicThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever