Telangana HC to hear SSC exam case on Friday

HYDERABAD: Expressing doubts over whether the state was right in going ahead with SSC (class X) examinations amid reports of a spurt in Covid-19 cases, the Telangana high court on Thursday posted to Friday the plea of the government seeking nod for the conduct of the exams and a few other petitions, which sought either postponement or cancellation of the exams and promote students based on their continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) performance.
A bench of Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Sudarsan Reddy, while resuming the hearing in a PIL filed by M Balakrishna, who sought postponement till the arrival of normalcy, came across another urgent plea by social activist Sai Mani Varun Chevuri of Kothapet, who mentioned in his petition about the appeal made by the Maharashtra government to its educational board to promote students without examinations.
Balakrishna’s counsel said the high court directed the state to review the Covid-19 situation before going ahead with the exams. But, no such assessment was done, he said.
Advocate general BS Prasad informed the court that they have filed an action report, explaining the increase in the number of exam centres from 2,530 to 4,535 centres. “All centres are equipped with thermal screening facilities, masks, sanitizers, gloves etc., apart from ensuring transport facilities. It also spoke about deployment of medical staff at the centres. No examinations at containment zones, arrangements in tune with physical distance norms, the roping in of Ayush department etc,” he said were detailed in the report. Following a request from P Naagesh, the counsel for Sai Mani Varun, the bench tagged his plea too along with Balakrishna’s petition and posted the case to Friday for a joint hearing.