Delhi University on Wednesday informed the High Court that the online Open Book Examinations (OBE) for final-year undergraduate students, which were scheduled to begin from July 10, have been deferred to the second half of August.
The university submitted before Justice Prathiba M. Singh that it will now hold the exams sometime after August 15. “The sudden change of mind to postpone the exams till after August 15 without a certain date, as per the decision taken by [DU] high-powered committee on July 7, has been placed before the court today,” the High Court order read.
‘Contrary move’
Justice Singh expressed displeasure at the change in stance by DU and questioned the university over its earlier claims about being prepared to hold OBE.
“You are saying you are ready but the minutes of your meeting shows the contrary,” the court noted. DU had earlier postponed the exams from July 1 to July 10.
Since the issue concerning OBE is already pending before another Bench of the High Court, Justice Singh placed the bunch of petitions filed on the issue before the Bench of the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court for transferring them to the appropriate Bench.
The High Court was also informed by the Centre’s counsel that a fresh Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and office memorandum had been issued by the Ministry of Human Resource Development regarding university exams.
As per the SOP, which has been forwarded to the University Grants Commission, universities have been granted time to conduct the exams by September 30.
Universities have the option of conducting the exams either online or offline, depending on the nature of preparedness of students, their residential status, and other factors.
During the hearing, DU’s counsel told the High Court that the decision to postpone the OBE was taken by a high-powered panel on July 7. One of the petitioners alleged that DU’s Academic Council had not been consulted in any of the decision-making processes.
A submission made against the postponement of OBE by one of the final-year students stated that it would lead to inability to avail employment in public sector undertakings as the deadline for submission of mark sheets was July 31.
A lawyer for one of the petitioners said he had received over 500 mails from students, many of whom are suffering from mental trauma due to the repeated postponement of exams.
The petitioners also raised the issue of difficulty in pursuing postgraduate studies in foreign universities, including the U.S. and the U.K., as transcripts had to be submitted by end of July or early August.
They also highlighted that several students were unable to access the portal of the OBE due to the crashing of the website during recent mock tests.
