Supreme Court reserves order challenging the UGC Guidelines mandating final year exams by September 30. A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Freddy, and MR Shah began the hearing at 11 am.
The Supreme Court has reserved its decision on all petitions challenging July 6 UGC Guidelines for mandatory conduct of final year university exams. SC has allowed parties to file written submissions of their arguments in three days.
On August 14, a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Subhash Reddy, and MR Shah had adjourned the matter till August 18. Senior advocate Shyam Divan on August 14 had told the Court that students constitute a homogenous class and the health of final year students is as important as that of other year or batches.
Appearing for other petitioners, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi also argued that colleges across India cannot be expected to have the same facilities. Many colleges have not held classes. He also opposed holding of final year exam saying how UGC can decide to hold mandatory exams when teaching has not been held and the Covid-19 pandemic is at the peak.
On August 17 Supreme Court rejected the plea filed by 11 students to postpone the JEE Mains and NEET exams due to the COVID-19 situation. SC bench said “life has to go on†despite the outbreak of the viral disease and the court cannot put the career of students in jeopardy by interfering with the decision of the National Testing Agency (NTA) to hold the examinations in September.
