Hyderabad: Satisfied with the assurance of the Telangana government, the college education wing, and universities in the state, which submitted that they will take the necessary precautions while conducting the final semester examinations in physical mode for undergrad and postgrad courses, the Telangana High Court refused to interfere with the decision taken by the government in holding the examinations through physical mode as it is the policy decision taken by the government. It observed that such policy decisions cannot be subjected to judicial review.
The division bench comprising Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy was dealing with two PILs filed by Balamuri Venkata Narsing Rao, the president of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), and Garib Guide, a voluntary organisation, seeking postponement of the examinations or seeking direction to conduct the examinations through the online method in view of a steep spike in Covid-19 cases.
Following the court’s direction seeking clarity on the mode of the examinations to be conducted, the commissioner of college education on Tues-day submitted that the government has taken a policy decision that autonomous engineering colleges and autonomous degree colleges would be given freedom to hold the examinations in online or offline mode, but all affiliated engineering and degree colleges will hold examinations in physical mode.
The bench recorded the undertaking of the government that it will hold advanced supplementary examinations for students who could not able to attend the exams because of the pandemic. However, the court declined to give orders to the government on a specific time to conduct the supplementary examinations, as it was to be decided by the government, based on the feasibility.
It asked the state to hold the supplementary exams within a reasonable time, after declaring the results of regular examinations.
