Karnataka HC Issues Notice To UGC and Others In Plea Filed By Engineering College Students Seeking Cancellation Of Final Year Exams

Justice Sunil Dutt Yadav, while hearing the petition, clarified that the submission of application forms for hall ticket for the exam as per notification dated July 31, issued by the VTU  continue without prejudice to the contention as raised by the petitioner and subject to orders passed by this court. The plea will be heard on August 10.

The petition filed by Vedant and others seek cancellation of final year exams and plead to be promoted in accordance with the alternate evaluation scheme offered to the intermediate semester students.

The plea states that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had permitted the conduct of exams by Universities and Institutions vide notification dated July 6, 2020 and had ordered the Universities to compulsorily conduct examination of final year students as per UGC guidelines and Standard Operating Procedure.

In furtherance of the aforementioned notification, UGC has issued revised guidelines for University examination for terminal semester students whereby it instructed Universities to conduct exams in offline (pen & paper)/ online/ blended (offline + online) mode.

The grounds for challenge are that petitioners' access to education was adversely impacted due to lockdown, no rational basis to differentiate in the mode of assessment of final year students as against intermediate semester students and citing the threat of exposure to COVID infection by the students appearing for the offline exams.

It is contended that the stipulation made by the UGC for mandatorily conducting examinations for terminal semester students while exempting the students who are in intermediate semester and allowing a different scheme of evaluation, is antithetical to the principle of equality guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution.

It is submitted that the Commission has proceeded on a "false notion" that conducting examination only for final year students is necessary for "reflection of competence, performance & credibility which is necessary for global acceptance."

The Petitioners have argued that Final Semester Exams alone do not determine the value and integrity of the degree. Rather, it is a combined effort & performance of a student over the past semesters.

"There is no rational nexus basis for the said classification and the object that sought to be achieved by imposing such varying methods of grading the students in the intermediate semester and the final semester," the plea states.