Maharashtra higher education minister meets Governor to discuss final year varsity exams

Maharashtra Minister Uday Samant on Wednesday met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to discuss the issue of conducting final year university examinations in light of the Supreme Court's order about the same.

The minister of higher and technical education called on Koshyari at Raj Bhavan here and was accompanied by minister of state Prajakt Tanpure, an official release stated.

Upholding the Universities Grants Commission's guidelines, the Supreme Court had last week held that no state and university can promote students in the final year/terminal semester without holding examinations.

The court also ruled that the UGC's directives to universities and colleges to hold final year exams by September 30, was well within its domain.

An SC bench also said that if any state or Union Territory, in the exercise of its jurisdiction under the Disaster Management Act, has decided that it is not possible to conduct the examination by September 30, then they can make an application to the UGC for extending the deadline.

On Monday, Samant had said that majority of the 13 non-agriculture universities in Maharashtra have urged the state government to seek an extension to hold the final year examinations and announce results by October 31.