Offline exam was scheduled to start on September 6
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed for a week Kerala Government’s decision to conduct offline exams for Class XI from September 6 amid rising cases of Covid. “There is an alarming” situation in the State owing to Covid-19, observed the apex court, adding that “cases in Kerala are about 70 per cent cases of the country. Children of this age cannot be exposed to this risk.”
“Prima facie, we find force in submission made by petitioner that the State Government has not seriously considered the prevailing situation before having a physical exam proposed to be conducted in September this year. As we couldn’t get a satisfactory response from counsel for the State in this regard, we grant interim relief staying the offline exam till next date of hearing,” said a bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Hrishikesh Roy and CT Ravikumar. The apex court posted the matter for next hearing on September 13.
The Kerala High Court had earlier observed that conducting examination was a matter of Government policy and no interference was warranted. The apex court bench passed the order on an appeal filed by advocate Rasoolshan A challenging a decision of the high court refusing to interfere with the decision to hold offline exams.
Meanwhile, the night curfew slapped on Kerala since last Sunday has failed to yield any result as the number of new patients diagnosed with Covid-19 continue to remain high. On Friday, out of the 1.63 lakh samples sent for testing, 29,322 persons were found to be infected with Covid-19, said a release by Health Minister Veena George.
The Test Positivity Rate remained high with 17.91 per cent while the pandemic claimed 131 lives taking the death toll in the State till date to 21,280. The State also saw 118 health workers falling prey to Covid-19.
Thrissur diagnosed 3530 persons on Friday and remained at the top of the table of districts with high patients. Ernakulam (3435), Kozhikode (3344), Kollam (2957) were the districts with highest number of Covid-19 patients.
Across the State, 2.46 lakh patients are undergoing treatment for Covid-19. The Government’s move to reopen schools in the State and conduct examinations for Class XI suffered a setback as the Supreme Court on Friday stayed the move of the LDF Government in this regard in the backdrop of the increasing number of Covid patients in the State.
The apex court took note of the unabated increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in the State and asked the administration whether the Government of Kerala has taken into account the 30,000 cases being recorded per day.
“As we could not get satisfactory response from counsel for the State in this regard we grant interim relief staying offline exam till next date of hearing,” said the Bench consisting of Judges A M Khanwilkar, Hrishikesh Roy and C T Ravikumar while considering a petition moved on behalf of plus one students in the State.