A day when Supreme court said, No means No, Be it Bihar polls or Promotion

New Delhi: Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a petition seeking postponement of Bihar Assembly elections till the state is free of COVID-19 pandemic and floods.A bench of the Apex Court headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said, "the petition is premature, and we are not inclined to hear this petition." 

"Covid cannot be the ground for postponement of of elections, specially when the notification declaring the election is not even issued. This is a misconceived petition under Article 32 of the Indian Constitution, we cannot entertain this petition," the Apex Court today said, while hearing a petition filed by one private individual, Avinash Thakur against the Election Commission of India. 

Justice MR Shah, the other judge in the bench of the Top Court, said, the Election Commission will take all the necessary precautions and consider everything. "Why do you think they will not consider these things?, " it asked.The Apex Court said, the Election Commission "Will take care of all situations and they are bound to take care."

Can't promote students without holding final year exams: SC

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Friday said states and universities will not be allowed to promote students without holding final term examinations by September 30.

However, the top court gave states the discretion to approach the UGC for an extension of the deadline of final year exams.

An Apex Court bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subshash Reddy, and MR Shah said that the decision taken by Maharashtra government to cancel exams amid the pandemic under the Disaster Management Act shall prevail.

The University Grants Commission (UGC), in its revised guidelines, mandated that all final year tests be conducted following the Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).

Senior Counsels including Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Shyam Divan, and Arvind Datar argued on behalf of the students to cancel the final year examinations citing the rising spread of novel coronavirus pandemic.

But the top court ruled that "internal assessments will not suffice."Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, on behalf of UGC, said the decision was for the "benefit of students" as the universities have to start admissions to postgraduate courses.

The UGC had said that decisions taken by some states to cancel the tests directly affect standards of higher education.(UNI)