Students vs UGC: Supreme Court likely to pass verdict tomorrow on final year exams; here's all you need to know

In the Students vs UGC case, the Supreme Court of India is likely to pronounce its verdict tomorrow (i.e. August 28, Friday) on the petitions filed against the University Grants Commission (UGC) mandate that requires universities across the country to conduct the final year examinations by September 30 amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak. A three-judge bench has been hearing the case.

The arguments for and against the case have been heard. The top court will decide whether the final year exams will be held in the month of September or postponed in view of the COVID-19 crisis. The Supreme Court on August 18 had reserved its decision after completing the hearing of the case.

It was expected to be delivered on August 26. Advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava took to Twitter to inform students that the matter was not listed for Thursday as well.

Dear final year friends,

Our #UGC matter is not listed even in tomorrow’s Supplementary Cause List. So final order is unlikely to be passed even tomorrow.

I understand your stress & request all of you to please take care of yourself.

I hope Final Order comes on 28th August

— Alakh Alok Srivastava (@advocate_alakh) August 26, 2020

Students vs UGC case: Details of the last Supreme Court hearing

A 3-member bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy, and MR Shah reserved its judgment and directed all the parties to submit a note on their submissions within the next three days.

The pleas of various states - Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, and Odisha - were also heard on August 18, including various petitions challenging the directives issued by the UGC on July 6, as these states had decided to cancel the examinations on their own.

During the hearing, the decisions of these states were stated to be against the statutory privileges of the Commission. The UGC said that it does not want to waste the students' time, hence examinations should be conducted.

During the hearing, the Supreme Court had said that students are not qualified enough to decide their own welfare. It further said that the states can either conduct the exam or can release the result of the exam on the basis of the previous scores.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for UGC had said that the Maharashtra government's decision of not conducting examinations in the state is politically motivated. He said that the Yuva Sena had filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the conduct of examinations, which is headed by Uddhav Thackeray's son Aaditya Thackeray.

The SG noted that while the universities can seek an extension of the September 30 deadline, they do not have the right to confer degrees without holding examinations.

Students vs UGC case: All you need to know

The petitioners argue that it is unsafe in the current situation of the pandemic to conduct the examinations. The UGC has said that there was enough time to conduct the examinations in a manner that the universities see fit.

While states such as Maharashtra and Delhi have officially opposed the UGC decree and have cancelled the final year examinations in the respective state universities, the UGC has, in turn, contested that the final year examinations are mandatory as the degree cannot be allotted without proper assessment.