State has no power to cancel exams: UGC to Bombay High Court
Mumbai: The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Friday told the Bombay High Court that the Maharashtra government does not have the power to cancel final year degree examinations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The affidavit was filed in response to a petition filed by Dhananjay Kulkarni, a retired teacher and former university senate member from Pune, challenging the Maharashtra government's decision to cancel examinations.
The state government canceled final year examinations last month by stating that it has the power to do so under the Epidemic Diseases Act and Disaster Management Act.
But the UGC argued that these acts can not be invoked to "render the statutory provisions of another special Act such as The University Grants Commissioner Act nugatory".
The state government's decision was contrary to the UGC guidelines issued on April 29 and July 6, 2020, asking all Universities and Institutions to conduct exams by the end of September 2020, the commission added.
The guidelines were issued after the Union Ministry of Home Affairs allowed holding of examinations by universities and other institutions, the UGC said.
The guidelines were issued to protect the academic and career interests of students and at the same time safeguard their health, it said.
The Maharashtra government's decision "to defer the final year examinations or to graduate students without holding exams would directly affect the standards of higher education in the country," the UGC said in its affidavit.
UGC was the apex body for regulating the standards of examination, the affidavit asserted.
"All universities/institutions in the country are obligated to conduct the final year examination by the end of September 2020," it said.
If a student, for unavoidable reason, can not appear for the examination then he or she may be given the opportunity to appear for special examination later, it said.
The guidelines provide for several flexible modes of examination including online, offline (pen and paper) and blended (online and offline), the affidavit said.
As per the petition, the UGC had on April 27, 2020 directed all universities to conduct exams.
However, after a student organisation wrote to the state minister of Higher and Technical Education, the exams in Maharashtra were postponed and subsequently canceled by the state government, it said.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta posted the matter for further hearing on July 31.
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Uttarakhand Assembly passes censure motion against opposition over women's reservation bill
Dehradun (PTI): The Uttarakhand Assembly passed a censure motion against the Congress and other opposition parties on Tuesday for allegedly blocking the passage of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, in Parliament.
The motion, which expressed the House's formal disapproval of the opposition's conduct, triggered a massive uproar by Congress members, leading to the adjournment of the House sine die.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Subodh Uniyal moved the censure motion, citing the "uncooperative attitude" of opposition parties toward the bill seeking 33 per cent reservation for women in legislative bodies.
Addressing a special daylong session convened specifically to discuss "Nari Samman -- Rights in Democracy", Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the bill's passage would have benefitted every political party.
Dhami noted that after delimitation, the number of Assembly seats in the hill state would have gone up to 105, with 35 reserved for women. He added that the number of Lok Sabha seats from Uttarakhand would have risen from five to seven or eight.
"The opposition fears that if women from ordinary households enter politics, the shops of dynastic politics run by certain parties will shut down," the chief minister claimed.
He compared the opposition's conduct in Parliament to the assembly in Mahabharat where Draupadi was insulted. Dhami further likened the opposition's behaviour to the "arrogance of Ravan".
The chief minister highlighted his government's initiatives, asserting that Uttarakhand was the first state to implement a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) to protect women's rights. He said the UCC freed Muslim women from practices like "halala", "iddat", polygamy and child marriage.
Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya questioned the technical feasibility of the bill, calling the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) claims of providing reservation by 2029 "misleading".
He argued that the bill is linked to census and delimitation processes. The Congress leader said the 2026 census would conclude by 2027 and the final data publication would take two more years.
"The delimitation process will take another six years. The actual implementation of this bill is not possible before 2034," Arya said, describing the move as a strategy to protect the BJP's "political ground".
The session also saw high drama outside the Assembly gates, where Congress MLA Virendra Jati staged a protest, demanding the payment of "outstanding" dues to farmers by sugar mills.
Jati arrived at the Assembly's main gate with a tractor-trolley loaded with sugarcane and dumped it on the road. The move brought the traffic to a halt, prompting traffic and security personnel to intervene and clear the area.
Women Congress workers also staged a demonstration against the "anti-people policies" of the state government.
