AP govt cancels Class X, Intermediate examinations

This comes after the Supreme Court warned the Andhra Pradesh government that it will be held responsible if there is even one fatality as a result of conducting class XII exams next month.

The apex court on Thursday intensely quizzed the Andhra Pradesh government over its decision to conduct physical exams for class XII students tentatively in the last week of July.

The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday had told the Supreme Court that it will be able to conduct class XII exams successfully as there are no reliable alternatives to assess the students. The state government had said it will tentatively hold the intermediate second-year examination in the last week of July and the timetable would be issued shortly.

The Supreme court on Thursday said Andhra Pradesh government will be held responsible if there is even one fatality as a result of holding Class 12 exams next month. The court said it may order compensation amounting to Rs 1 crore in the event of any deaths.

"Anyone fatality you will be held responsible. quantum will be defined later. There are states which are giving 1 crore compensation for one fatality. Unless we are convinced you are geared up to take exams without any fatality, we won't permit you to go ahead and conduct exams", the court said

The court directed the state counsel to get instructions from the state government on the conduct of exams in the light of observations made by the court.

"When other boards had canceled, why (does) Andhra Pradesh want to show it is different? Other boards took a conscious decision based on the ground reality. There is a new variant - 'delta plus'. Nobody is clear how it will affect us... Who took the decision to hold these exams and what are the parameters on which the decision was taken? It is a question of the health of everybody... not only about conducting exams. We are not convinced about your plan," the court said.

The court directed the state to submit a report that identifies the individual or government body that took the decision to hold in-session exams, and if all concerns had been examined.