The Delhi High Court directs the Delhi High Court directs Delhi University to submit a detailed affidavit regarding the mode of conducting examinations

The Delhi High Court directs Delhi University to submit a detailed affidavit regarding the mode of conducting examinations

-Aditi Chauhan

The Delhi High Court has allowed the prayer of senior advocate Sachin Dutta representing the Delhi University to grant some time to the university to come up with the new plan to conduct the final year examinations of the students amid the COVID – 19 according to the latest guidelines given by the University Grant Commission.

The petition was been filed by the final year students of the Delhi University challenging the Open Book Examinations announced by the university. The university had issued the first notification on 14 May to conduct the examination on 1 July, then postponed it on 10 July and finally issued the notice on 27 June to conduct the Examination after 15 August without giving the clear instructions, date, and schedule of it.

The petition was filed by the students to quash the notification and not to conduct the examination but to promote them on the basis of their previous results like it has been done with the first and second-year students, as this put off of the exams is causing the inability of students to apply for the further jobs and studies, and will also be a matter of concern for the students with no computers and internet access.

To this Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the UGC has submitted before the Bench of  Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Subramonium Prasad that, the UGC has clearly stated in its new guidelines, that, the Universities have to sum up with the examinations of the final year students before 30^th September of the year and can opt for any method either online or offline to conduct the exams but has to keep in mind the Standard Operating Measures issued by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Along with this, it was also clarified by the Solicitor General that promotion of the final year students is not an option given to the Universities so they can’t opt for it.

After hearing the petitions the Court first has confronted the University for constantly changing the date of the examinations and in the end not giving the clear date for the conduction of the exams. The court has also condemned the University for creating nerve-wracking among the students when already a lot of distress is been present in the country. Though the Court was disappointed by the act of the university for playing with the future of the students on the prayer of the senior advocate Sachin Dutta, the court has granted the sufficient time till 13 July, to the university to submit the affidavit containing the detailed information of the process of the examination, its mode of conduction along with the examination schedule and date sheet, so that the Court can list up the matter on 14 July.