The Supreme Court is scheduled to deliver its verdict on Friday, regarding the pleas challenging the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) decision to hold final year examinations by September 30. The UGC had earlier asked colleges and universities to conduct the exams within the due date amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, which had reserved the verdict on August 18, will announce the decision. 

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The UGC told the apex court that its July 6 order to colleges and universities asking them to hold exams, was “not a diktat”, but states could not make the decision of conferring degrees to final year students, without conducting tests.

It had told the 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.

One of the petitioners earlier told the top court that nobody is against the decision of holding examinations in “normal times”. However, given the pandemic situation, students are challenging the decision made by the commission.

The UGC on the other hand criticised the decision of states including Maharashtra and Delhi who had cancelled the exams and said that such a decision will affect the quality of higher education.

It also added that the decision will be a direct encroachment on the legislative field of determining the standards of higher education, which is reserved only for Parliament under Schedule VII of the Constitution.