SHAUN VENGAMOOTIL Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The times of Covid-19 seems to throw up myriad apprehensions and fear for many - some of which are genuine, some chimerical and the rest conjectural.

(2.) The petitioners in these cases are students pursuing engineering courses in the various colleges affiliated to the A.P.J.Abdul Kalam Technological University (hereinafter referred to as 'the University' for short). They concede that they have not been able to clear all the papers in the various semesters and that they were awaiting supplementary examinations to be conducted by the University. They then assert that the University has now published the schedule for supplementary examinations for all the semesters of the various courses, which commences from 09.09.2020 to last till 16.11.2020; and that even though they welcome this, they are singularly concerned that these examinations have been now decided to be held only in the 'off-line' mode, which is to say, through their physical presence in examination centres.

(3.) According to the petitioners, in the present Covid-19 pandemic scenario available in the State of Kerala, it is not wise or prudent for the University to insist on the conduct of examinations solely through the physical mode and that they ought to have scheduled them only through the 'on-line' mode; particularly because, the instructions issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC for short) gives them the discretion to conduct examinations either in the physical mode; or in the 'on-line' mode; or through a blend of both. They say that however, the University has now disregarded these instructions of the UGC and have chosen, unilaterally and without any rational basis, to conduct the examinations only in the physical mode, thus imperilling the health and lives of the large number of students who are to take part in the same. They thus pray that the examinations scheduled on 09.09.2020 be interdicted and the University be directed to conduct the same only through the 'online' mode.