The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned the plea against the UGC July 6 guidelines on mandating final year/terminal semester university examinations for September 30 and have postponed the hearing on the directives to August 14.

The order on the matter was supposed to be issued yesterday, but the apex court has now sought clarification on whether the Disaster Management Act can override the UGC’s notification.

Thousands of college and university students across India are waiting for the final word from SC on this issue. In the last hearing, the Court had asked the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to clarify its stand on the issue.

Advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, appearing on behalf of the 31 students who had filed one of the petitions, questioned the legality of the UGC guidelines in their plea.

He said that though Delhi and Maharashtra had been asked to reply about holding the final-year exams, their main concern remains the legality of guidelines, reported India Today.

In defence, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing UGC asked how the states could ask UGC to confer degrees without conducting any examinations. Mehta also said students, however, must continue to prepare for the exams, and not wait for the order to be issued.

‘Students should continue to prepare for the exams (final-year). If exams are not conducted, students cannot get a degree. That is the law,’ Mehta as quoted. The Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah is hearing the matter.

As per the July 6 guidelines by UGC, examinations for final-year in colleges and universities need to be held by September across the country, whether online, offline.

Following the issuance of revised guidelines, several petitions were submitted demanding the cancellation because of the dangers posed by COVID-19 and to declare results on the basis of past performances of students.

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