Agencies

28 August,2020

The wait for lakhs of final year students has come to an end today. The Supreme Court has announced its verdict on the pleas challenging the decision of UGC asking universities and colleges to conduct exams by September 30 amid the coronavirus pandemic. A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, which had reserved its verdict on August 18, pronounced the judgment at 10.30 am.

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10:52 AM: The decision of State Disaster Management Authority to postpone exams will prevail over UGC guidelines. However, SDMA cannot direct to pass students based on previous performance.

10:48 AM: The SC rules that States/UTs cannot promote final year students without examination as ordered by UGC. States/Union Territories given liberty to approach the UGC to seek postponement of the exams in the light of #COVID19 pandemic situation.

10:47 AM: However the direction of the State Disaster Management Authority to pass the students on the basis of previous performance is beyond the scope of the Disaster Management Act.

10:45 AM: The directions of State Disaster Management Authority for cancelling exams in that particular states will prevail over the UGC directions.

10:43 AM: The bench has refused the prayer to quash the UGC guidelines to hold the exams.

10:41 AM: Final order is now being pronounced by the Supreme Court

10:38 AM: Final order will be out in the next few minutes...

10:30 AM: The bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah to assemble shortly to pronounce the verdict.

10:00 AM: Supreme Court to announce a decision shortly

09:30 AM: The court had said that another issue is whether the commission can override state authorities and ask the universities to hold examinations on given dates.

08:39 AM: The Supreme Court had observed that the issue is if the state disaster management authority has decided that the situation is not conducive for holding exams, can they overrule the UGC.

It had said that another issue is whether the commission can override state authorities and ask the universities to hold examinations on given dates.

08:18 AM: The UGC had also told the top court that the directive is for the "benefit of students" as the universities have to start admissions to postgraduate courses and state authorities cannot override the UGC's guideline.

08:17 AM: Meanwhile, let's give you a background of the case to understand better.

Earlier, the UGC had told the top court that its July 6 directive, asking universities and colleges to conduct final year exams by September 30 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, is "not a diktat" but states cannot take a decision to confer degrees without holding the examinations.

08:15 AM: SUPREME COURT TO PRONOUNCE FINAL VERDICT

The Supreme Court will pronounce its final verdict on pleas challenging the UGC guidelines and its decision to hold final year exams in September amid the coronavirus pandemic. The apex court is scheduled to make the judgment at 10:30 AM.