The High Court of Telangana on Friday directed State government to postpone the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams, which had begun on Thursday, from March 23 to 30. There will be no change in the exam to be held on Saturday, March 21.
The first of the annual SSC exams was held on Thursday. The second exam too was conducted on Friday. However, the exam scheduled on March 31 would be held without any change.
A division bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A. Abhishek Reddy gave the interim direction, after hearing a PIL petition seeking deferment of the SSC exams in the backdrop of rising COVID-19 cases.
Seeks to know the reason
The plea was filed by a private educational institute faculty member M. Bala Krishna. Hearing the petition which was moved as lunch motion, the bench sought to know why the Telangana government wanted to go ahead with the exams while the central boards postponed the CBSE and ICSE exams. The bench said already authorities imposed prohibitive orders under section 144 of Cr.P.C. in Karimnagar town after a group of Indonesia nationals, who arrived there by train, showed symptoms of COVID-19.
The Centre too announced to observe Janata curfew appealing to people to stay put indoors on Sunday from 6 am to 9 p.m. Conducting SSC exams in such circumstances would amount to taking risk, the bench said.
The petition would be heard again on March 30.
