U-turn as govt says online exams for arrears soon

CHENNAI: Assuring the Madras High Court that it is abiding by the guidelines of the University Grants Commission (UGC), the State government on Thursday informed that no student with arrears would be declared to have passed without attending the online examinations that it plans to hold.  

Going against its earlier decision to cancel arrear examinations, the government submitted the new plan, upon which the court directed the State to complete all the examinations in eight weeks’ time. The submission pertains to the writ petitions moved by advocate Ramkumar Adityan and former vice-chancellor of Anna University E Balagurusamy challenging the government order (GO) from August 2020 cancelling arrears exams (except for those in their final year) and awarding ‘pass’ to students.

When the plea came up for hearing before the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar  Ramamoorthy, the State government informed the court of the decision to conduct online exams for the college students.

The court then directed that the results of the arrear examinations be declared soon and certificates be issued at the earliest. Further, the Bench said that the dates for the online examinations should be decided in consultation with the UGC, and directed the officials to complete the entire process in eight weeks. In reply, the Advocate General submitted that it has been decided to hold the examinations in the middle of May. The court adjourning the plea to July directed the universities to file a detailed report after holding the examinations.

Earlier on April 7, in the previous hearing, the court made it clear that the GO cancelling exams was not acceptable to it as the uninformed political decision has only led to chaos. Expressing its disappointment, the Bench had said it is inconceivable that students will be certified to have qualified in a system without having any basic knowledge thereof.