BREAKING : Supreme Court Allows Kerala Govt To Hold Plus One Exams Offline; Dismisses Plea Against It

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed against the decision of the Kerala Government to hold Plus One (Class XI) exams in offline mode.

A bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and CT Ravikumar observed that the reasons given by the State Government in its affidavit were convincing and hence the petition was liable to be dismissed.

"We hope and trust that the authorities will take necessary precautions", the bench observed in the order.

The bench noted that the examinations of the APJ Abdul Kalam University which was attended by over one lakh students were held in August and NEET exam with lakhs of students were held last week.

The bench said that it passed the interim order of stay earlier in view of certain reports that the third wave was likely to happen by the third week of September.

"Earlier we intervened, because there were reports that third wave was likely in the third week of September. But now third wave is not in the offing immediately", Justice Khanwilkar said.

The counsel for the petitioner Rasoolshan, Advocate Prashant Padmanabhan, argued that the State Government's counter-affidavit does not give out satisfactory reasons and does not answer the earlier queries posed by the bench.

Padmanabhan submitted that while staying the exams on September 3, the Court had asked the State's counsel if the decision was taken after taking into account the high rates of COVID cases in Kerala. He argued that the affidavit does not answer that and does not state if the decision has been taken after consulting the experts.

However, the bench did not agree with these arguments of the petitioner, and said that the State has given convincing explanations.

"We are convinced with explanation offered by state. We hope & trust that authorities will take all precautions & necessary steps to ensure no untoward situation is faced by students who are of tender age and are appearing in the exam", the bench recorded in the order dismissing the petition.