The plea has been filed in the Apex Court seeking issuance of directions to Centre and UGC, quashing the MHA Order and University Grants Commission Guidelines on conducting mandatory examination for final-year college students via offline, online or a blended method in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The plea is filed by AOR Raj Kaman on the behalf of a law student at Baraktullah University, Yash Dubey, and Youth Bar Association of India. The plea has been filed in the Apex Court seeking issuance of directions for protection of Life of Students who’s Right to Health (Right to Life) is being violated.
In times of a global pandemic, the Central Government and UGC have placed irrational weightage on academic evaluation and completely neglected the importance of lives of thousands of students, the Petitioner has asserted.
The Petitioner has submitted that the decision is in violation of Articles 14 and 21 and is against the public interest.
It is also argued that the UGC guidelines are ex-facie without any authority of law as its powers under the statute are limited to issuing advisories.
The Petitioner points out that several universities in India have already opted for a more pragmatic approach by evaluating the students on the basis of their performance in the previous years/semesters or internal assessment.
In view of the above, the Petitioner has sought a direction to promote final-year students on the basis of the average of marks obtained in previous years and internal assessment in the present year, accordingly, award provisional degree to the students.
