India News | Postponing Final Year Exams Again from July 10 to Next Month, DU Informs HC
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Delhi University informed the Delhi High Court on Wednesday that it has decided to postpone again the Open Book Examinations (OBE), scheduled from July 10, for final year under-graduate courses to next month, incurring the court's wrath for "playing with the lives of children".
New Delhi, Jul 8 (PTI) Delhi University informed the Delhi High Court on Wednesday that it has decided to postpone again the Open Book Examinations (OBE), scheduled from July 10, for final year under-graduate courses to next month, incurring the court's wrath for "playing with the lives of children".
The DU submitted before Justice Prathiba M Singh that it will now hold the exams after August 15 in view of the persisting COVID-19 pandemic situation.
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The court then transferred the matter to a division bench which had on June 29 issued notice to the varsity asking why contempt proceedings be not initiated against it and its officers for trying to mislead the court by withholding information on deferment of the online OBE from July 1 to July 10. The matter will come up before the division bench on Thursday.
The court, which conducted the hearing through video conferencing, expressed displeasure over the varsity's decision and said, “just see how you are playing the lives of children”.
“You were not fair with the court about your preparedness for holding the online examinations. You are saying you are ready but the minutes of your meeting shows the contrary,” Justice Singh told the DU counsel.
She noted that the DU had done the same thing earlier by postponing the exams from July 1 to July 10 and contempt notice was issued against the varsity by the division bench.
The court said the sudden change of mind to again postpone the exams after August 15 without any certain date as per the decision of the high powered committee has been placed before it.
Since the issue concerning postponement of exams repeatedly is already pending before a division bench in case of Prateek Sharma, “this court deems it appropriate to place these writ petitions, subject to the order of the Chief Justice, before the division bench which is already seized of the Prateek Sharma matter”, Justice Singh said.
“You are postponing the exams unnecessarily. You are doing it because of your own difficulties which you are facing due to technical glitches,” it said, adding that it was very clear that DU is not ready for the online exams.
Senior advocate Sachin Dutta and advocate Mohinder Rupal, appearing for the DU, submitted that the varsity has taken a decision to postpone the examinations from July 10. However, no specific reason was given for the decision.
The high court was hearing various petitions by several final year DU students seeking quashing and withdrawal of the notifications of May 14, May 30 and June 27 for online exams for undergraduate and postgraduate students, including of the School of Open Learning and Non-Collegiate Women Education Board.
As an alternative prayer, one of the petitions has sought direction to the DU to evaluate the final year students based on the previous years' or semesters' results in the same manner as the university has planned to promote the first and second year students.
Justice Singh said three proceedings have already been heard by the high court related to OBE, including Prateek Sharma case which has challenged the conduct of online exams.
The court also remarked that the July 6 decision of the University Grants Commission (UGC) has created too much uncertainty across the board and it was completely not required.
The court was informed by the UGC counsel Apoorv Kurup that a meeting was conducted on Monday and revised guidelines have been published in which it was clarified that final term examinations are to be compulsorily conducted by all the universities.
UGC has said guidelines are advisory in nature and varsities may chalk out their own plan taking into consideration issues pertaining to COVID-19 pandemic.
It had said that it was concerned about the physical and mental health of the students while balancing them with their academic careers.
Advocate Akash Sinha, representing some of the petitioners, said he has received over 500 e-mails, videos and audios from students who are suffering from mental trauma due to the repeated postponement of exams.
He said if postponement is allowed, students will be unable to avail employment in public sector undertakings (PSU) where last date for receiving applications is July 31.
Advocate Manik Dogra and Shivankar Sharma, who also represented some other students, said due to the postponement of exams, they will not be able to pursue higher studies in universities abroad as the last date for submitting transcripts is end of July or start of August.
Dogra said his client intends to appear for the law exam in July and if his final year results are not declared on time, it will waste his entire year and will affect his future career.
Advocate H S Hora, appearing for NSUI-Delhi President Akshay Lakra, also challenged the DU's notifications for conducting OBE and contended that the decisions were taken without consulting the Academic Council and it was contrary to the law.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)