UGC: Final yr exams must, states can’t cancel them

UGC: Final yr exams must, states can’t cancel them

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

14.08.2020

The UGC told the Supreme Court on Thursday the decision of Maharashtra and Delhi governments to cancel final year college exams citing the pandemic was void ab initio (invalid at the outset) and couldn’t override the UGC’s directions to universities to conduct final year exams by September 30 through online or offline modes.

“Neither the Disaster Management Act, 2005, nor the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, empower the state… to take decisions that affect or impact the standards of higher education. Under the UGC Act, it is the UGC alone which is mandated to maintain such standards,” the University Grants Commission said in its affidavit. “Therefore, the decisions of the state authority and the state government (to cancel final examinations) are an encroachment on the legislative field of coordinating and determining the standards of higher education.”

Final exams are a crucial step in academic career of students: UGC

In an earlier statement, the UGC had said of the 640 universities that had submitted responses, more than 400 had either completed final exams or planned to do so using the prescribed modes. The UGC, in its affidavit, said Maharashtra could not fall back on the DM Act to encroach into a domain exclusively reserved for the commission.

“The state disaster management authority’s June 18 decision not to hold last year final semester examination of both professional and non-professional courses and the consequent government resolution dated June 19 as well as the state authority’s July 13 decision reiterating nonholding of examination, are in violation of the UGC’s April 29 and July 6 guidelines, which must be followed by universities/institutions and, as such, are void ab initio,” the commission said.

The UGC emphasised the need to conduct terminal or final examinations, saying it was acrucial step in the academic career of a student. “Therefore, the UGC has issued such guidelines to protect the academic future of students across the country which will be irreparably damaged if their final year/terminal semester examinations are not held,” it