160 Students Moves Punjab And Haryana HC Against Conduct Of Examinations In Offline Mode And Limited Number Of Examination Centres

The petition has been filed through Advocate Tanvi Dubey, Advocate Sanjay Kumar Dubey and Advocate Priyavrat Parashar.

The matter is likely to be taken up by the High Court tomorrow.

BACKGROUND OF THE PETITION

The petitioners are students of the Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Patiala who are aggrieved by the email notice issued by the Institute stating the expected date of commencement of end semester examination as 25^th January 2021.

The said email notice also provided that the end semester test shall be compulsory for the students to be conducted in offline mode, exposing the examinees to immense risk in the wake of the pandemic. According to the petitioners, this will amount to flagrant violation of basic principle of right to health which is an important facet of right to life.

"There has been a sudden upsurge in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country with more than 10.5 million cases and more than 152000 deaths. Particularly in the State of Punjab the total number of cases has crossed 170000 with more than 5,485 deaths." The petition states.

According to the petitioners, the UGC guidelines had given an option of offline or online or a blended (online and offline) mode for conduct of examinations in view of the ongoing pandemic.

"It is trite to note that the Impugned decisions taken in complete disregard to the life, safety and health of thousands of students. The same not only provides for a model which is extremely dangerous for the lives of thousands of attendees but at the same time it is extremely dangerous for the Professors who will be invigilating the exams." The petition states.

Reliance has been put on the decision of Assn. of Medical Superspeciality Aspirants & Residents Vs Union of India, (2019) 8 SCC 607 wherein the Apex Court held that Right to Life includes Right to health.

ISSUES TO BE CONSIDERED

1. Whether the notification dated 25.12.2020 mandating compulsory conduct of the exams in offline mode valid, while all the sessions, classes etc. have been virtually been conducted and also the classes for next session is notified to be held virtually?
2. Whether the notification dated 01.01.2021 providing for only 35 centres to be located throughout the country, is valid, considering that no centres are located for many candidates their state ?
3. Whether the notification dated 25.12.2020 and 01.01.2021 fails to take into consideration the plight of the students and the practical difficulties which will be faced by them in terms of travel, accommodation etc.?
4. Whether the Respondent No 1 while passing the compulsory direction with respect to the offline exams vide notification dated 25.12.2020 failed to consider the practical difficulties which will be faced by the Petitioners and many other similarly placed students and has further failed to consider that in view of the exponential growth of the COVID-19 virus, the evaluation of the students was done in an alternative mode even during the last semester ?
5. Whether the fundamental right of the Petitioners violated?

PRAYER OF THE PETITIONERS

• To issue a writ of mandamus or appropriate order for setting aside the notification dated 25.12.2020 issued by the Institute providing for conduct of exams in an offline mode.
• To issue a writ of mandamus or appropriate order directing the Institute to revise the circular dated 25.12.2020 providing for conducting exams in an online mode.
• To direct the Respondent No. 1 for allowing students who are unable to physically appear in the examination as per circular dated 25.12.2020, due to health conditions, self-quarantine restrictions to appear in the examination through online mode.
• To direct the Institute for increasing number of examination centres throughout the country, currently restricted to 35 cities.
• To direct Respondent No. 2 to call upon Respondent No. 1 to submit a set of parameters for evaluation of the students on the basis of student's past performance.
• To direct respondents to promote the students on the basis of the performance in the previous semesters by taking an aggregate score for all the semesters and extrapolating them to calculate the marks for the end semester.