On Friday, Maharashtra Governer Bhagat Singh Koshyari has asked Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to resolve the issue of conduct of final-year students of Under Graduate (UG) and Post Graduate (PG) courses "without any further delay in the larger interest of students".
Not conducting the final year examinations by the universities amounts to breach of UGC guidelines, said Koshyari in the letter to Thackeray.
The Governer also took strong objection to Uday Samant's letter to the University Grants Commission (UGC). The Minister of Higher Education and Technical Education had written to the UGC to consider promoting the final year students of Under Graduate (UG) and Post Graduate (PG) courses without conducting the exams.
Koshyari said it was "unwarranted intervention" and "violation of UGC guidelines and also the relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016". He added that it would not be "ethical or appropriate" to award degrees to final year students without conducting examinations, which results in violation of the provisions of the Universities Act.
Earlier, Samant had said that there are approximately 8 to 10 lakh students across the state and maintaining all safety protocols seems very challenging and may endanger the safety and health of the students amid the coronavirus pandemic. "I am of the opinion that the terminal (final) examination should not be conducted this year," he had said.
The Maharashtra Students' Union had also written to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray asking for the cancellation of the final year examinations which are slated to be conducted from July 1 to July 30, 2020.
