UGC guidelines 2020: Delhi HC allows student to withdraw plea amidst pending SC decision

In latest UGC exam guidelines news, the Delhi High Court has now allowed a student to withdraw his plea that challenged the UGC guidelines. The UGC guidelines earlier stated that it is mandatory for all the Indian colleges to conduct their final year exams by September end. However, this matter is currently pending before the supreme court after a petition was filed by the students against the same in the view of coronavirus pandemic.

The hearing was conducted by Justice Jayant Nath who conducted the hearing through video conferencing. He granted liberty to the student to approach the SC with his plea as well as allowed him to withdraw his plea as well.

The plea was actually filed by a final year Delhi university student who challenged UGC guidelines that made the final year exams mandatory for colleges in India. The exam was slated to be conducted by the end of September in an offline, online or blended mode of examination due to the coronavirus pandemic reasons. 

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UGC news and updates

• The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked the UGC to clarify whether final year examinations by the universities be conducted based on Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ), open choices, assignments and presentations, instead of long-form exams.
• Banaras Hindu University (BHU) students are flooding social media platforms with hashtag #NoBHUExamInCovid, opposing the guidelines put forth by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for universities to conduct the examinations by September 2020. 
• In the recent Supreme court hearing on July 27th (bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan), the SC heard the plea seeking the cancellation of final year exams. 

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The UGC new guidelines issue

A total of 31 students from universities across 13 states and one union territory approached the apex court to quash the UGC circular dated July 6 in which all universities in the country have been asked to conduct the final term exams before September 30. The students, in their petition, said that the exams should be cancelled and their final results should be calculated on the basis of past performance. It also proposed that their mark sheets should be issued by July 31.

One of the students among the 31 petitioners tested positive for COVID-19 and sought directions to the UGC to adopt the CBSE model and postpone the exams for the students who are not satisfied with their internal assessment score. The plea sought cancellation of scheduled examinations in the interest of students as the number of COVID-19 cases is on the rise.

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