‘Universities Free To Conduct Exams Of 1st & 2nd Year’: SC

The Supreme Court on Thursday said that Universities were free to conduct semester or terminal examinations for the first and second-year students in undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

"The University Grants Commission (UGC) has left it to the discretion of the Universities to conduct examinations for the 1st and 2nd year students. If they want to hold the examination, we can't stop them. This is not a ground for judicial review," said a bench of Justices, Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah.

A PIL filed by a student Ayush Yesudas who claimed that as per UGC Guidelines of April 27, students in 1st and 2nd year of UG and PG courses have to be assessed purely on the basis of internal assessment and not examination.

The bench however said this issue was dealt with by its August 14 judgment where it upheld UGC's July 6 Guideline mandating exams for the final year students in UG and PG courses. Universities were also given the freedom to hold examinations.

While the petitioner said that the Covid situation is still not normal and holding examinations in these circumstances will amount to a violation of UGC Guidelines, the bench swiftly dismissed the petition saying, "this Court cannot be expected to start monitoring the examination of each college. Holding the examination does not violate the UGC guidelines."