Final Year University Exams Amid COVID-19: Supreme Court Seeks UGC Response; Matter Adjourned Till July 31

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned the hearing on the clutch of petitions challenging University Grants Commission’s (UGC) decision to conduct final year exams mandatorily by September-end, till Friday, July 31.

The apex Court today issued a notice to the UGC to file its response to the pleas. The three-judge Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah heard the matter today.

According to the Bar and Bench report, Advocate Alok Alakh Srivastava, appearing for the petitioners, pointed out, “Today 50,000 COVID-19 cases have been registered. There needs to be a stay on these guidelines until the matter is pending.”

The Solicitor General said that the MHA and HRD Ministry guidelines have stated that social distancing will take place with not more than 10 students in a room. However, Senior Advocate Shyam Divan for Aditya Thackeray said if Solicitor General would file a reply by Wednesday, he should be allowed to file rejoinder by Thursday.

Earlier, this matter was tagged with three others — one petition by law student Yash Dubey, the plea by Aaditya Thackeray’s Yuva Sena, and a petition filed by a final year student Krushna Waghmare.

The plea by the 31 students prays for a direction to the UGC to adopt the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) model and conduct an examination at a later date for those students who are not satisfied with the marks awarded on the basis of their internal/past assessment.