The Bombay High Court bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish Kulkarni on Thursday said the most anticipated third wave is going to affect the younger generation and thus the congregation of students for exams cannot be allowed at any cost. This comes after the bench accepted the statement from the Maharashtra government that it would allow students of all boards - SSC, CBSE, ICSE & IB - to appear for the common entrance test (CET) to be held for admissions in class 11.
The bench was hearing a PIL filed by Pune-based Professor Dhananjay Kulkarni challenging the decision of the state government to cancel the class 10 exams.
The bench sought to know from Kulkarni through his counsel Uday Warunjikar if he would take responsibility of any student getting infected after attending the class 10 exams physically.
"Why do you (Kulkarni) think that exams should be held? Who will take the responsibility if a student after appearing for physical exams gets infected? Will you take the responsibility?" Chief Justice Datta asked.
To this, Warunjikar replied that it is not for his client but for the authorities to take steps to avoid this issue.
Further, Warunjikar pointed out that his client's "partial contention" has been taken care of by the state by issuing two GRs on May 20.
"One GR is about the introduction of CET and the other one is with regards to the formula the state has devised for assessing the students," Warunjikar submitted.
The counsel further said that the CET won't work as students from other boards too would be allowed to appear for the entrance test to get admitted in class 11. This, he said, would be chaotic.
However, advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni for the state told the judges that there won't be any chaos. "In fact, my statement may be taken on record, that students from all boards would be allowed to appear for the CET. There won't be any discrimination. Our aim is to bring all students on one platform," the AG said.
After this issue was resolved, Warunjikar pointed out that the marking scheme of the state has defects. "The GR for assessment says that schools, who haven't prepared the internals mark sheets yet will have to follow the prevalent procedure of the concerned board," he said.
"This would mean students will have to go to the schools for their internals (orals and practicals). My grievance is when you can call students for internals why not for the board exams," he added.
At this, AG Kumbhakoni clarified that for the internals, the students would be called in batches and that a separate SOP is issued in this regard to ensuring their lives aren't risked.
Having heard the contentions, CJ Datta said, "Mr counsel, you must consider calling students in batches isn't as risky as making them sit for physical papers. We can't afford a congregation of students at any cost."
"We all need to be more practical on this. Now that there will be a third wave, which is likely to affect the younger generation. So we need to protect them and avoid congregation," CJ added.
The chief justice further pointed out that the Constitution allows the executive to take a policy decision.
"Cancelling exams is a policy decision. We can't interfere in the decision unless it manifests arbitrariness," CJ Datta said while disposing of the PIL.
