The Supreme Court is set to deliver its verdict on the UGC Exam Guidelines 2020. The SC is to decide whether the final year degree examinations should be held before September 30. On August 18, the court had reserved its verdict and given all the parties 3 days time to present their final arguments. The Supreme court is hearing a batch of petitions that seeks cancellation of the final term exams due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Students have been protesting against the UGC for allowing universities and colleges to hold the final year exams amidst the ongoing pandemic. On August 10, the UGC told the Supreme Court that it is the sole authority to take a decision on whether the exams should be conducted or not. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court on behalf of the UGC that the decision since UGC grants degrees, the final decision should be from the body. He further questioned the decision taken by the governments of Maharashtra and Delhi under the Disaster Management Act to cancel the final examinations. The Ministry of Home Affairs too was asked about its stand on the matter.
The UGC said that the universities were approached to inform the status of the exams. 818 universities responded- 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. 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. Many students had urged that the exams be cancelled and the results of the students be calculated on the basis of their internal assessment or past performance.