BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Monday dismissed a public interest litigation questioning the state government’s decision to conduct SSLC examinations on July 19 and 22.
A division bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Hanchate Sanjeev Kumar dismissed the PIL filed by SV Singregowda, Managing Trustee of Gnana Mandira Education Trust in the city.
The petitioner alleged that students will be exposed to Covid-19 if the state goes ahead with its decision to hold the examinations.
The court noted that the state government has taken a decision to hold the examinations in the revised format on July 19 and 22, based on the opinion of the Technical Experts Committee on Covid-19. This is the best time to hold examinations as the Covid positivity rate has come down to 1.48%. Hence there is no arbitrariness in the government’s decision, the court added.
The court also noted that the state has taken steps to ensure the safety of all stakeholders by issuing Standard Operating Procedures.
The petitioner challenged the notification issued by the government to hold examinations and sought directions to government to pass all students without exams, as was done in the case of second year PU courses.
However, the court said it was possible to promote second year PU students and the state has come out with a formula to declare their results but the same could not be done in the case of SSLC students.