Supreme Court Delivers Verdict on Final Year Exams

Holding exams in the current scenario became a topic of debate when UGC, the national education body  came up with guidelines that directed the states to conduct final year college exams before September 30.

Several petitions were filed in the Supreme Court, one of them by the Yuva Sena of Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray. The petition asked for the exams to be cancelled because of Covid-19. 

The petitions detailed the difficulties faced by students due to the pandemic. The petitions also  suggested that the Cumulative Grade Point Average or CGPA of the five semesters that students have completed could be the basis for results without conducting the final examinations.

The UGC argued that the final examination is a “crucial step” in the academic career of a student and exams were a must "to protect the academic future of students" and without exams, the degrees cannot be given.

After hearing the arguments, the Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah passed the judgement through video-conferencing. 

The Bench upheld Maharashtra's right to cancel the exams. However, the Court categorically stated that final year students cannot be granted degrees without conducting the examination. The students will be granted degrees only when the exams are conducted. 

According to the Court, all students will have to take the final exams; states have the right to cancel the exams but the students will not be promoted without final year examinations. Therefore, the exams can be postponed and conducted later. States can appeal to UGC to extend the September 30 deadline. The Court also stated that internal assessments will not suffice for promoting the students.