India / Aaditya Thackeray moves SC against UGC's order to hold exams by Sept-end

NEW DELHI: Maharashtra Cabinet Minister and Yuva Sena President Aditya Thackeray has moved the Supreme Court to challenge the UGC decision to hold final-year examinations before September 30.

Speaking to IANS, Yuva Sena Secretary Varun Sardesai said: "In support of students across India, the Yuva Sena has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against the of University Grants Commission's (UGC) decision to conduct final-year exams."

He added that the Yuva Sena has challenged the UGC guidelines on the matter and requested the Supreme Court that each university may be allowed to chart out its own plan of action with respect to terminal semester/final-year examinations depending on the conditions in their respective states so as to provide relief to students.

"Even in this highly worrying time, the Human Resource Development Minister and the UGC have announced that final-year examinations be conducted in India by universities in September 2020, keeping in mind its guidelines, but ignoring the physical and mental health, anxiety and safety of students across the country", said the Yuva Sena in a statement.

Sardesai asserted that Covid-19 is a "national disaster" in view of which the UGC should have cancelled the final-year examinations and arrived at a fair and uniform criteria for declaration of results and also circulated it for adoption by all universities in India.

"However, it seems the UGC has not understood the full extent of the dilemma that the country is currently facing and it's using its power and authority to make it mandatory for universities to conduct examinations, which can be avoided", he added.

According to the Yuva Sena, in these unprecedented times of Covid-19 pandemic when the provisions of both the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, and the Disaster Management Act, 2005, are amended from time to time, the UGC's stance of insisting on conducting final- year examinations/semester examinations and not to grant relief to these students is "very sad" and -- if the UGC goes ahead with it -- may also prove to be difficult to implement and not be safe as well.