The Supreme Court on Thursday said that the university is free to decide if and when to conduct exams for the promotion of first and second year students of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the next year. A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah said, “The University Grants Commission (UGC) has left it to the discretion of the universities to take the first and second year examinations. If universities want to conduct examinations, we cannot stop them. It is not the basis of judicial review. “
The apex court made the remark when it was hearing a petition filed against the examination of first and second year examination. The petition filed by a student named Ayush Yesudas said that in the UGC guidelines issued on April 27, 2020, it was stated that the evaluation of first and second year students of undergraduate / post graduate courses based solely on their internal assessment. The UGC took this decision in view of the increasing cases of growing Covid-19 infection in the country.
The court said, “The matter has been settled in the judgment of August 14 in which the UGC guidelines of July 6 for compulsorily conducting the final year exams of UG / PG courses have been upheld. At the same time, universities have also been given the freedom to conduct examinations to promote the students of previous years.
Supreme Court’s seal on UGC guidelines, said- universities cannot pass students without final year examination
The UGC Guidelines dated 27 April said, ‘Universities for Intermediate Semester / Year students will prepare for their level by taking stock of the situation of Covid-19 pandemic in different regions and states and keeping in mind the students’ housing situation. After conducting a comprehensive assessment one can conduct the examination. If conditions are not normal, students can be given 50% marks on the basis of internal evaluation of the university and the remaining 50% marks on the performance of previous years (if available), considering the health of the students as the top priority.
The petitioner outlined the guidelines of the UGC and said, ‘The status of Covid-19 is not over yet. Things have not returned to normal. Taking the examinations in such a situation is a violation of the UGC guidelines.
The bench rejected the plea, saying, “The court cannot start monitoring examinations in every college.” Conducting the exam is not a violation of the UGC guidelines.
