On Friday, 28th August, the Supreme Court disposed off the petitions challenging the guidelines that had been issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for conducting final semester exams by 30th September. The bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and M R Shah gave the following orders:

1. The Bench had refused the prayer to quash UGC Guidelines for holding final semester exams.
2. The directions of the State Disaster Management Authority for cancelling the exams are to prevail over the UGC.
3. However, the direction of SDMA to pass students on previous performance is beyond the scope of the Disaster Management Act.
4. States/UTs cannot promote students based on final year exams. However, they can seek postponement of the exams due to COVID 19. 

The UGC claimed that then Order was given in the best interest of the students.

Source: Live Law