Supreme Court to hear plea against UGC circular on final term exams on July 27

The Supreme Court will hear on July 27 pleas challenging a University Grants Commission (UGC) circular and seeking cancellation of final term examination in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan will hear the pleas on Monday.

As many as 31 students from different universities across India approached the apex court to quash the UGC circular dated July 6 in which all universities in the country have been asked to wrap up the final term examinations before September 30.

The students, in their petition, said that the examinations should be cancelled and results of such students should be calculated on the basis of their internal assessment or past performance.

The petition filed by students from 13 states and one union territory requested that mark sheets of students should be issued before July 31.

One of the students, among the 31 petitioners, has tested positive for COVID-19 and prayed for directions to the UGC to adopt the CBSE model and conduct an examination at a later date for the students who are not satisfied with the marks awarded on the basis of the assessment.

The plea said that planned examinations be cancelled in the interest of justice for the students as the number of COVID-19 cases is on the rise.

UGC has said that universities were approached to get the status about the examinations and responses were received from 818 universities (121 deemed universities, 291 private universities, 51 central universities, and 355 state universities).

Out of the 818 universities, 603 have either conducted the examination or are planning to conduct. While 209 others have already conducted examination (on-line/off-line), 394 are planning to conduct examination (on-line/off-line/blended mode) in August or September.

The commission has also said that for 35 universities, of which 27 are private, seven state-run, and one deemed university, the first batch is yet to become eligible for the final exams.

Another petition on the issue, filed in the apex court by final year law student Yash Dubey, also sought cancellation of UGC mandated final year exams. Shiv Sena leader Aditya Thackeray has also moved the apex court on behalf of Yuva Sena, the youth wing of Shiv Sena, against the mandated final year exams in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases.

Source: ANI