The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday rejected the interim prayer to postpone Karnataka Common Entrance Test (K-CET) examination and it will now happen as per schedule on July 30 and 31. "Authorities shall make sure that conditions in the standard operating procedure issued by the Union Ministry of Health and the guidelines of the state are scrupulously followed by all," the High Court stated in its order.
It also asked the Karnataka government to provide transport to students on a case by case basis. It also directed the state government to upload the SOP for the exam before 8 pm on Wednesday.
Hearing based on a petition filed by students on Wednesday, the High Court bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice M I Arun heard arguments in the absence of Chief Justice Abhay Oka.
The Karnataka government presented a written submission to the High Court confirming its plans to go ahead and conduct the K-CET exam on July 30 and 31. The counsel representing the state government said 1.84 lakh students had downloaded the hall tickets for the examination stating it is "neither feasible nor proper in the larger interests of students" to stop the examination.
The High Court on Tuesday had asked the state government to reconsider its decision to conduct the K-CET examinations at a time a high number of COVID-19 cases are being reported in the state.
Advocate Ponanna appearing for National Students Union of India (NSUI) said that the conditions were not ideal for conducting examinations in the state. There are 497 exam centres in 54 places in the state. There are also 1881 students coming from outside Karnataka of which 1300 are coming to Bengaluru, the advocate told the High Court.
Even COVID-19 patients are being allowed to write the K-CET in separate rooms, a move that was questioned by advocates appearing for NSUI.
The counsel appearing for the government said that 40 students were identified beforehand and that they will be dropped to the exam centres in ambulances.
The High Court bench also questioned the counsel appearing for the government about a second chance for candidates who could not write the exam on July 30 and 31. The bench further stated that the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the exam was announced too late.
But ultimately, the High Court bench decided to allow the examination to be held in the state.
"We respect the verdict of the High Court. The responsibility of the examinations lies on the state government. The state government had a chance to rethink its decision but this is a risky move to hold the examinations when COVID-19 cases are increasing," Eric Stephen, one of the petitioners and secretary in-charge of NSUI in Karnataka told TNM.