Final year exams will be held; State cannot promote students: Supreme Court

The Indian Supreme Court stated that a state/Union territory could ask the University Grant Commission (UGC) to prolong the exam deadline for final year exams. However, based on the internal evaluation, it cannot promote students.

On July 6, 2020, UGC released a set of guidelines, which made it mandatory for the universities to organise final year examinations by September end, by any means, online or offline, or even in a combined format. The guidelines further mentioned that the intermediate semester students would be promoted based on their past performance.

Though, many students wanted UGC to cancel their final year exams due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The petitioners have demanded that the final year students should also be evaluated based on alternate methods as conducting exams is not possible amid the ongoing pandemic and flood across India.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had observed that if the state disaster management authority has decided that the situation is not favourable for holding exams, can they overrule the UGC. To this, the apex court has stated that the decision taken by the state disaster management authority shall prevail over the UGC deadline. On the other hand, the decision to cancel and promote the students is beyond their jurisdiction.