MUMBAI: Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari will hold a meeting with vice-chancellors of non- agricultural universities on Thursday to discuss the issue of final-year examinations in the backdrop of a Supreme Court verdict, an official said on Wednesday.
Maharashtra minister of higher and technical education Uday Samant along with junior minister in the department Prajakt Tanpure met Koshyari at the Raj Bhavan here to discuss the issue of conducting exams in light of the Supreme Court order about the same, an official release said.
According to another official statement, a letter will be sent to the University Grants Commission (UGC) explaining the prevailing COVID-19 situation in Maharashtra and plans about conducting examinations in Maharashtra later.
The governor, who is also the chancellor of state universities, asked the ministers to see if examinations can be conducted in a simple manner and directed the government to consult vice-chancellors and take a decision in the interest of students, said the statement.
Koshyari will hold a meeting with vice-chancellors of 13 non-agriculture universities on Thursday, the statement said.
This will be followed by a meeting of the state disaster management authority under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, it said.
As per the statement, the government letter to the UGC will apprise the Delhi-headquartered statutory body about the current COVID-19 situation in Maharashtra and plans on conducting the examinations at a later stage.
Upholding the UGC's guidelines, the Supreme Court had last week held that no state and university can promote students in the final-year/terminal semester without conducting examinations.
The court also ruled that the UGC's directives to universities and colleges to hold final-year exams by September 30 was well within its domain.
An SC bench said that if any state or Union Territory, in exercise of its jurisdiction under the Disaster Management Act, has decided that it is not possible to conduct the examination by September 30, then they can make an application to the UGC for extending the deadline.
On Monday, Samant had said that a majority of the 13 non-agricultural universities in Maharashtra have urged the state government to seek an extension to hold the final-year examinations and announce results by October 31.