Bombay High Court has disbursed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed for challenging the Maharashtra government’s decision on cancellation of Class 10 Board exams this year. The Plea was filed by a retired professor from pune, Mr. Dhananjay Kulkarni.
The High court in its final decision has prioritised the health, safety and overall wellbeing of students over conduction of exams. The court countered the petitioner that will he take the responsibility to safeguard students while they write physical exams during the pandemic.
The HC bench led by Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni asked the petitioner to present a very clear and genuine reason for the exams to be held even when the conditions are unfavourable. Justice datta said that the bench is not satisfied by petitioners verdict over exams.
Justice Datta also enquired the petitioner that suppose we conduct the exams as per your demand and any student gets infected, then who will take their responsibility? Are you willing to claim it ? Because the court or the government will not consider risking the lives of childrens.
In the previous hearing, representative of Maharashtra government filed an affidavit to the court citing its reason for Exam cancellation. The Court supported governments decision and said that state has taken an appropriate step in favour of the students and finds the reasons to be considerable.
In continuation, the Bench said that we could interfere in such cases only if the court finds any infringements in the fundamental rights of people or disobey of any law and order. Other then that, we could not go against the decision as it has been already made after immense consideration.
However, the High Court gave liberty to the petitioner for challenging the alternate evaluation criteria devised by the state for Class 10 students. The petitioner can withdraw the current PIL and file a new one if he is interested. Otherwise the Court will disburse this Case.