Aaditya Thackeray led Yuvasena moves Supreme Court against UGC's decision to conduct Final Exams in COVID-19 scare

Yuva Sena, the youth wing of the Shiv Sena, has approached the Supreme Court challenging University Grants Commission's (UGC) decision to conduct the final-year exams. .According to a press release by the party, the Yuva Sena has submitted that the current condition in India is only deteriorating owing to the Covid-19 crisis and isn't conducive to conduct examinations..Even in this highly worrying time, the Government of India's Ministry of Human Resource Development's (MHRD) Minister & University Grants Commission (UGC) have announced that Final Year Examinations be conducted in India by Universities in the month of September 2020, keeping in mind the adoption of its guidelines, but ignoring the physical and mental health, anxiety and safety of students across the country. The 31 Guidelines that UGC had announced for conducting these exams will not be effective given the severity of this Pandemic.Press Release of Yuva Sena.The release states that Maharashtra Cabinet Minister, Aaditya Thackeray and president of the youth wing had written letters on May 9 and July 7 to both UGC and HRD Ministry to cancel the final year exams and promote students on the basis of average marks. .Exams conducted in the month of September 2020 will pose further challenges including but not limited to paper checking, when to declare Examination results and admissions to Post Graduate courses and delays therein, network connectivity issues in rural areas in case examinations are conducted online which is unfavourable to students in rural areas versus those in urban areas, risk of increased transmission of COVID-19 among students if examinations are conducted by Universities and Colleges offline i.e. involving physical presence of a large number of students in enclosed spaces.Press Release of Yuva Sena.On July 5, UGC in an official statement had stated that final Year university examinations may be postponed until the end of September, but must be conducted in either online or offline mode, and that students who are unable to appear for these examinations will be given the opportunity to appear for special examinations which will be conducted later..UGC issues guidelines to chart out Academic Calendar, conduct of exams in the wake of COVID-19 Lockdown .Stating examples of institutes who have already cancelled their exams, the release states that IITs along with the governments of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Pondicherry and others, have already cancelled Final Year Examinations.."In these unprecedented times of COVID-19 Pandemic when the provisions of both the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, and the Disaster Management Act, 2005, as amended from time to time, have been evoked, the UGC's stance of insisting on conducting Final Year Examinations / Session Examinations and not to grant relief to these students is very sad, and if the UGC goes ahead with it, may also prove to be difficult to implement and may not be safe as well, " reads the plea..The top court, however, is yet to admit the petition..In a statement today, the UGC said that it had asked universities to inform it of about the status of conduct of their exams, adding that 755 universities had sent their response to it. Of these, it said, 194 universities informed that they had conducted their exams, while 366 said that they would do so in August/September.