UGC final-year exams: SC tells SG to file a reply, final decision to be out on Aug. 14

New Delhi, August 10: Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the University Grants Commission, at a Supreme Court hearing on pleas against the UGC guidelines making it mandatory for final year exams to be held by September 30, on Monday morning, said that "it is a law" that final year students cannot get their degrees without exams.

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court was hearing petitions filed by 31 students against the University Grants Commission's (UGC) who sought cancellation of the UG and PG final year exams. The 31 students saw massive support to their petition on cancellation of exams, on Twitter with over 87,000 tweets.

Students across the country wrote with #StudentsInSCForJustice and voiced their support for the same.

The SG further added that two states, Delhi and Maharashtra, have cancelled final year examinations, which is contrary to the guidelines issued by the UGC. "How can states cancel exams when UGC is empowered to confer degrees," he asked.

Justice M.R. Shah, who was hearing the pleas along with Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice R. Subhash Reddy, questioned if the National Disaster Management Act can override the UGC guidelines.

Previously, the state governments of Delhi and Maharashtra filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that they will be cancelling all final year exams due to Covid-19. The SG cited both cases to the bench that directed him to file a reply and submit to the court by August 14.

The next hearing is scheduled for Friday, August 14.

The UGC, in guidelines issued on July 6, had directed all colleges and universities to conduct exams for UG and PG final year students before September 30.

(With inputs from LiveLaw.in)