AICTE asks affiliated institutes in Maharashtra to hold final semester exams

The All-India Council for Technical Education has informed the Bombay High Court that it has asked the affiliated institutions and deemed universities to follow the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines and hold the final-year degree examinations for students. The AICTE has also said that the final semester examinations have not been scrapped in any of the colleges affiliated with it.

A retired professor from the state of Maharashtra had filed public interest litigation (PIL) with the Bombay High Court, which sought a directive to cancel the decision of the state government to scrap the final-year examinations of professional and non-professional courses.

The petitioner argued that the state is not vested with any power to cancel the examination according to the Maharashtra Public Universities Act of 2016: only the Governor of the state, who is the ex-officio chancellor of all universities in the state, has overall jurisdiction in that field.

The affidavit released by the AICTE as a response states that the council will make sure to follow the safety guidelines which have been issued by the UGC.

Last week, the state government had said in an affidavit that it had made the decision to scrap the examinations due to the multiplying number of coronavirus cases in the state and feared further spread of the disease if the examinations were held.

Over one million students in their final year are due to take examinations: 734,516 in non-professional courses and 283,937 in professional courses.

The case has been adjourned until 31 July.