SC: Final-yr exams must for getting grad/PG degrees

NEW DELHI: Ending the suspense for 1.5-crore final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students, the Supreme Court on Friday said final examinations are a must to get degrees but ruled that in a pandemic situation, states had power under the Disaster Management Act to postpone examinations beyond the September 30 deadline set by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
The court said the state or the disaster management authority could delay the final exams but not scrap them. They will need to be rescheduled in consultation with the UGC, the court said, upholding the regulator's mandate to set the rules for award of degrees. In doing so, the SC said it recognised the importance of the evaluation process.
The SC said UGC guidelines had taken the pandemic situation into account and had given three options to universities for conducting final examinations — offline, online and a mix of both. There was nothing unreasonable about the guidelines as it also provided another opportunity to students, who, for some reason, may miss the final examinations, it said.
Maharashtra has decided to cancel final-year examinations, citing rising Covid-19 cases. It found support from West Bengal and Delhi, who termed the UGC guidelines an advisory and not mandatory. In support of the Maharashtra government's decision, Shiv Sena's youth wing ‘Yuva Sena’ had moved the SC challenging UGC’s July 6 guidelines mandating completion of final examinations by September 30.
Disagreeing with their stand, a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R S Reddy and M R Shah said states and universities had no power to “promote students in the final year or terminal semester” without holding final examinations. It said UGC was the sole authority to take a decision on this count.
"Decision of the state or State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) to promote students in the final year/terminal semester on the basis of previous performance and internal assessment being beyond the jurisdiction of Disaster Management Act, 2005, has to give way to the UGC's July 6 guidelines directing to hold examination of final year/terminal semester,” it said.
However, the court said if the state or SDMA has decided that it cannot hold final examinations by September 30, then the state shall approach UGC for fixing a new schedule for final examination for undergraduate and postgraduate courses. "We grant liberty to such state/Union Territory to make an application to the UGC for extending the September 30 deadline for that state/UT which shall be considered by UGC and rescheduled date be communicated to such state/UT at the earliest," the bench said.
Writing the 160-page judgment, Justice Bhushan said, “UGC's July 6 guidelines have to be treated to have been issued in exercise of the statutory powers vested in the commission under Section 12 (of the UGC Act, 1956). As per the Statutory Regulations, 2003, it is the statutory duty of universities to adopt the guidelines issued by the UGC. The July 6 guidelines cannot be ignored by terming it as non-statutory or advisory.”
The petitioners had also challenged the July 6 guidelines on the ground that it differentiated between final year and other students in undergraduate and postgraduate courses. They said while non-final year students had been exempted from examinations, it was made mandatory for final-year students.
The SC said the guidelines indicated that the expert body took measures in the interest of students and their academic career. “The flexibility of examination through offline, online and mixed mode as well as providing special opportunity to those who still missed appearing in the final examination makes it reasonable and non-violative of right to equality,” it said.
Rejecting the charge that the guidelines endangered lives of lakhs of students given the rising trend of Covid-19 cases, the SC said standard operating procedures for conduct of examination were put in place to ensure safety of students.