Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari complains against minister to CM Uddhav Thackeray
MUMBAI: Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Friday raised a complained to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray about the conduct of the Maharashtra Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant for his decision of cancelling the final year examinations of higher educations.
Maharashtra governor asked the chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to resolve the issue of conducting final year examination of students of universities in Maharashtra ‘without any further delay in the larger interest of students’.
“Not conducting the final year examinations by the Universities amounts to a breach of the University Grand Commission (UGC) guidelines”, he wrote in a letter to the Chief Minister on Friday.
Governor took the strong objection to the letter written by Minister of Higher and Technical Education, Uday Samant to UGC recommending cancellation of final year examination of students.
Governor asked the Chief Minister to issue suitable instructions to the Minister for his ‘unwarranted intervention’ which according to him was in ‘violation of UGC guidelines and also the relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016’.
The Governor has stated that he was not apprised by the minister in the matter before recommending the cancellation of final year examination to the UGC.
The Governor noted that as per provisions of the relevant Universities Act, Universities have the power and duties to hold examinations and confer degrees upon successful students. He noted that it would not be ‘ethical or appropriate’ to award degrees to final year students without conducting their examinations, which results in a violation of the provisions of the Universities’ Act.
The Governor observed that receiving degrees by students without undertaking any kind of examinations would have an adverse impact on their higher studies, gradation and employability.
The Governor pointed out that the Ministry of Home Affairs has granted exemption from lockdown measures to the State Education Boards, CBSE, ICSE etc to conduct Standard X and XII examinations. He further noted that the UGC has also issued guidelines on lockdown measures covering important dimensions related to examinations, academic calendar, etc for adoption by the Universities.