Delhi University ‘playing with the lives of students’, says HC, demands date-sheet before July 14

The Delhi High Court on Thursday came down heavily on Delhi University for its repeated postponement of the final-year students’ Online Open Book Examination (OBE)

The Delhi High Court on Thursday came down heavily on Delhi University for its repeated postponement of the final-year students’ Online Open Book Examination (OBE) and directed the varsity to file an affidavit detailing the schedule of the examinations.

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The varsity, on Wednesday, through a notification, had pushed the date beyond August 15 after considering the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines and the complaints received by the students regarding the mock test in the last two days.

On Thursday, a bench of justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad, while hearing a bunch of pleas challenging the OBE exams, lambasted the university and said that the careers of thousands of final students were at stake and “turning turtle”. The court sought to know the reason for the postponement stating that DU was “dying to conduct the exams”.

“We are not impressed and take everything with a pinch of salt. We all have gone through the examination process, which is nerve-wracking for students, more so during the times of the Covid-19 pandemic,” the bench said.

“Why are you pushing the exams to a date beyond August 15, knowing that the careers of thousands of students are at stake? If you keep changing the date, where will the students go?” the court remarked.

It asked that when the varsity was more than prepared as claimed by DU counsel Sachin Datta, then why were the exams being postponed even after August 15.

Despite several attempts, however, DU’s Dean of Examinations Vinay Gupta did not respond to calls or text messages for comment. A senior official, though, on condition of anonymity, said: “The university will discuss the dates of the exam and inform the court in due time.”

“You (DU) only see your own difficulties and not that of the students who might be suffering from Covid-19 or have infected family members. But you postponed the exam just because one of your officers was affected, without even worrying about thousands of students and their families. Their careers hinge on the exams,” Justice Hima Kohli said.

Following this, the court asked the University’s counsel, senior advocate Sachin Datta, to file an affidavit detailing the schedule for the final-year undergraduate exams which have been postponed from July 10 to beyond August 15. The court also asked the varsity to explain in the affidavit as to how it proposes to conduct exams —online, off-line or both modes, besides the complete date sheet, providing clarity to students.

The bench directed DU to file the affidavit by July 13 while asking it to mull over the schedule given by UGC and to come back with a firm datesheet and examination schedule.

In the affidavit filed by DU on Thursday morning, it was averred that a meeting of a High-Powered Committee of the university took place on July 7 at 9.30pm to discuss exam-related matters and take stock of the developments pursuant to the revised guidelines issued by UGC on July 6.

During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was representing the UGC, informed the court that on July 6 and July 8, it had issued a circular/ guidelines to all universities informing them that the examination process for final-year students must be completed by the end of September and the mode of conducting examination could be online, offline or a blend of both methods.

On being asked by the court as to whether UGC insisted that exams be conducted to promote students, Mehta said exams were compulsory for final-year students and the process had to be completed by September 30.

The matter will be now heard on July 14.