Why not hold online UG, PG exams: Telangana HC

HYDERABAD: The Telangana high court on Thursday sought to know from those who are opposing the examinations for undergraduate and postgraduate courses as to what is their difficulty in appearing for the same if they are held online.
A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy posed this query to NSUI president BV Narsing Rao and others who are opposing the exams, citing the pandemic spread. Reminding the petitioners about a series of common entrance tests by the state government and educational agencies held online, the judges wondered whether the same approach could be adopted for the annual exams as well.
Petitioners’ counsel C Damodar Reddy said that though they had asked for cancellation of all exams, the University Grants Commission did not agree to do so and asked the states to complete the exam process by September 30. “At least, the authorities should think of conducting them online,” he said.
The judges then asked advocate general BS Prasad to inform the court whether the authorities would hold online exams now and a supplementary exam later for those who could not appear for exams now. “But, you (government) should not call them supplementary exams. They should be treated as regular exams,” the judges said.
At this, the AG sought time to ascertain the views of the authorities concerned and inform the court. Y Srinivas Murthy, another counsel appearing for the students, said though the UGC had made it mandatory to conduct the exams, it gave the liberty to the states and universities to conduct them either in online or offline mode or in a blended form.
The bench adjourned the case to September 14.