Supreme Court upholds the University Grants Commission’s July 6 circular to hold University final year exams.
Court says states must hold exams to promote students. It says states under the Disaster Management Act can postpone exams in view of pandemic & can consult UGC to fix dates.
Supreme Court says students cannot be promoted without University final year exams.
A Bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan pronounced the judgment.
Earlier, the court had reserved its judgment on August 18 and had said it will also decide whether the states will have power under the Disaster Management Act to defer the final examination till the situation normalizes.
The University Grant Commission through an affidavit had earlier told the Supreme Court that the decision of Delhi and Maharashtra government of canceling the final term examination will ‘directly impact the standards of higher education in the country’.
The UGC has filed an affidavit on Delhi and Maharashtra governments’ stand of not conducting the final term University exams said that the UGC has taken the policy decision to conduct final year / terminal semester examinations in the interest of students across the country after duly considering the prevailing situation of a pandemic.
The affidavit was filed in on a batch of pleas challenging UGC’s July 6 circular and seeking cancellation of final term examination in view of COVID-19 situation.
Earlier, Delhi and Maharashtra governments had told the top court that they have canceled the examination in the states.
