The Supreme Court on Thursday, 24 June, pulled up the government of Andhra Pradesh over its pronouncement to go ahead with physical board exams, saying that "other state boards have cancelled the exams taking note of the ground realities".
A bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari interrogated the state government's decision to hold Class 12 exams with 15 students in the examination hall in view of the pandemic.
With around 5 lakh students expected to appear for the tests, the bench noted that at least 30,000 exam halls will need to be available to accommodate 15 students per hall.
“How are you going to arrange for over 28,000 rooms with 15 students per hall? Have you a formula for that? You will require over 35,000 rooms if it is 15 students per hall? Do you have so many rooms?”Justice AM Khanwilkar, as per LiveLaw
Further, the bench asserted that the government will need to expedite its decision-making process regarding the timeline of the exams, saying that 'you can't keep things uncertain like this', LiveLaw reported.
Justice Maheshwari observed, “You cannot keep the things hanging fire. If you are more confident than all other states then let us have your reasons too," NDTV reported.
“If there is one fatality, we will hold the state of Andhra Pradesh responsible for it,” Justice Khanwilkar added.
Advocate Mahfooz Nazki, the counsel for Andhra Pradesh government said that the exams will purportedly be held in July.
Referring to this, the apex court observed that students' college applications will get delayed if the exams are held as per the government's current plan.
In light of these observations, the court directed the state government's counsel to come to a decision and file an affidavit.
The matter will be taken up on Friday again.
(With inputs from LiveLaw and NDTV)
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