NEW DELHI: The Delhi HC Wednesday asked the Centre, UGC and Delhi University to reply to a plea challenging the guidelines making it mandatory for colleges to conduct final-year examinations by September-end in view of the pandemic.
Justice Jayant Nath, who conducted the hearing through video conferencing, asked them to submit their responses within two weeks and listed the matter for further hearing on August 4, lawyer for the petitioner said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta represented the UGC. The plea, by DU student Kabir Sachdeva, challenged the UGC’s July 6 guidelines making it mandatory for colleges to conduct final year exams by September-end via offline, online or a blended method.
Advocate Manik Dogra, representing Sachdeva, also challenged an office memorandum of July 6, passed by the Ministry of HRD, Department of Higher Education, which provided instructions for conducting the exams along with standard operating procedures for conducting the exams.
“In times of a global pandemic the respondent no. 1 (HRD Ministry) and 2 (UGC) have placed irrational weightage on academic evaluation and neglected the importance of lives of thousands of students,” said the plea, filed through advocates Dhruv Pande and Randeep Sachdeva.