Delhi HC asks DU to inform whether Open Book Examination will be conducted from July 10

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Delhi University to inform it on Wednesday whether they are going to conduct Open Book Examination for final year students from July 10.

The court queries came after it was apprised by the Professor Vinay Gupta, Dean of Examination, that a high-level meeting was going between the University officials, UGC and HRD Ministry.

A single-judge bench of Justice Prathiba Singh listed the matter for further hearing on Wednesday when it was told that the meeting is being conducted to make a decision further on the examination in wake of the notifications given out by the UGC, HRD Ministry and Ministry of Home Affairs.

Gupta told the HC that there is a possibility that they will have to postpone the examination. He further said that the date sheets have already been uploaded on the website.

The court was hearing a plea filed by several students seeking cancellation of the OBE examination being taken by DU.

Meanwhile, UGC informed the Delhi High Court that they are concerned about the physical and mental health of the students with balancing them with the academic careers.

Meanwhile, Delhi University told the court that since the situation is extraordinary, they can give a tentative schedule, according to which exams will be completed by August 4 and thereafter from evaluation of papers would begin and be continued till Middle of September and results are likely to be declared before the first week of October.

DU also told the court that the examination portal is robust which can allow 80,000 students at one time. Around 4.86 lakh question papers have been downloaded and attempted in the last few days of the mock test which showed that the preparedness of the University is up to the mark.

The petitioner counsel raised issues related to contradictory statement between UGC, HRD Ministry and Ministry of Home Affairs. One side UGC and HRD ministry are saying that university is an autonomous body to take its own decision while on the other side Ministry of Home Affairs said the examinations are to be compulsorily conducted as per the UGC Guidelines on Examinations and Academic Calendar for the Universities.

MHA on Monday while giving green signal to universities all over the country to conduct examination has clarified that the final term examinations are to be compulsorily conducted as per the UGC Guidelines on Examinations and Academic Calendar for the Universities; and as per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) approved by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The petitioner also highlighted technical issues and chances of impersonations during the exam. On this, DU replied that the students are responsible to maintain confidentiality on the login id and password. In case, some problems occurred due to technical reasons, DU has allowed the student to mail the answer paper. DU also apprised the court that question paper will be automatically mailed to students.

Delhi University also told the court that around 2.45 lakh students are studying in the final year and among them, 1.86 lakh students are from Delhi and rest are outside from the national capital.

( With inputs from ANI )