Delhi University on 4th August held the hearing for the ongoing petition challenging the DU exams for final year students. Even after the long wait, the final decision has not yet been made. Final year students will have to keep waiting for a day more to know the fate of their exams. The Delhi University’s representative lawyer Sachin Dutta has been asked by the court to come up with his argument on Wednesday at 2:30 pm.
In Wednesday’s hearing, Sachin will have to explain where the University will publish the helpline number during the conduct of exams. Sachin will have to explain the duration of time the University will grant to students to download the OBE question papers. Also, the Dutta will be asked to clarify the document limit of 5 MB set up by the University.
Tushar Mehta who was representing UGC asserted that commencement of exams is mandatory. Furthermore, the University must conduct 2-3 hour long exams. Mehta further asked the court to wait until the Supreme Court declares the final verdict on the UGC guidelines. The final verdict will come on 10th August. DU exams are going to commence on 10th August. He further added that UGC is determined to conduct exams by September 30 and exceptions can certainly be made in extraordinary cases. UGC’s representative lawyer further included that if a student fails to appear in the online exams, offline exams can be conducted for them even after September.
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DU EXAMS: CSCs NOT FOR MOCK TESTS, CLARIFIES DU
The students representative Akash Sharma argued that the University’s decision to conduct exams infringes the articles 14, 16, and 21 of the Indian constitution. There are many students who do not have access to the internet for appearing for the mock tests. The students can not even go to the CSC centers to appear for DU exams. The final year students hold no previous experience in appearing for online DU exams. Furthermore, there are students who are still stuck in the flood-affected areas or in contaminant zones where CIC’s are not even open. Moreover, it is risky to ask students to travel to these CIC’s during the coronavirus situation.
Akash Sinha further illustrated how various other Indian Universities have adopted other modes to conduct exams. He stated that NLU Delhi has asked it’s students to submit an assignment within 72 hours. While the School of Environment Sciences of JNU asked its students to complete an assignment within 24 hours. Sinha questioned that why is DU being stringent in conducting online DU exams.
DU EXAMS: DU TELLS DELHI HC THAT LIST OF STUDENTS RELYING ON CSC ‘NOT POSSIBLE’
Shivankar Sharma who was representing petitioners said that the OBE option is not rationalized. Sharma included that students residing in Delhi will have better networks than those residing in rural areas. The next hearing for upcoming DU exams will be held on Wednesday I.e., August 5.
