SC Verdict on UGC Guideline Live Update: Final Year Exams Mandatory, Deadline Can Be Extended, says Supreme Court

SC Verdict on UGC Guidelines Live Update: Supreme Court of India delivered its final verdict in the case challenging UGC Guidelines and holding of then final year exams 2020 for college and university students. The SC Verdict on UGC Guidelines said that the States do not have the power to cancel the exams and promote students without holdinf the final year exams. The court also said that while it was mandatory to hold final year exams 2020, the state government did have the right to demand extension in the deadline to hold the exams. The Supreme Court Bench Comprising of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah said that Deadline can be altered by the State but Exam will be held.

Keep refreshing this page for live updates on SC Verdict on UGC Exams 2020!

Exam Deadline Can be Changed

In the same judgement, the Supreme Court also the decision by State of Maharashtra under the DM Act to not hold exams shall prevail. Elaborating on its judgement, the apex court said that the exams are mandatory and are to be held compulsorily. However, the deadline of holding the Final Year Exams 2020 by 30^th Sept 2020 is not valid. In line with this, the state governments are allowed to seek extension in the timeline to hold the exams from the University Grants Commission.

Exams Can’t Be Cancelled by State Govts

As per the SC judgement delivered today, the Final Year Exams 2020 for the College and University students are to be held compulsorily. State Government on their own cannot decide to cancel the exam or to promote students without holding the assessment exams as prescribed by the UGC through its 6^th July 2020 Guidelines.

Hearing Listed for 10:30 AM

As per the tweet shared by Advocate representing the students, the matter is listed for hearing at 10:30 AM in the morning during which the 3 judge bench of the Supreme Court is expected to deliver the final verdict in the matter. The Bench comprising of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subash Reddy and MR Shah will deliver the judgement in the matter today morning. The news has also been shared by the advocate online on his social media platform.

Arguments So Far

During the earlier hearings, advocates representing the students’ side said that the UGC was being discriminatory by differentiating between Intermediate Semester Students and the Final Year Students. UGC had decided to promote students who are in their interim semester to the next grade without holding due to COVID-19 pandemic. However, the same commission has made exams mandatory for final year students, which is discriminatory in nature. Moreover, the advocates also argued that varsities were not consulted in the process of formulation of the guidelines and that their concerns and limitations were ignored while issuing the procedure for holding the exams.

On the other side, SC Tushar Mehta who was representing UGC said that the commission was within its right to issue the exam guidelines keeping the larger interest of students and to maintain the academic integrity of the Indian education system. He also added that UGC Act 1956 empowers the commission to outline the assessment standards for higher education across India and using it the commission had decided that the final year exams are to be held within the prescribed timeline for the award of degrees to the students.