HC allows Delhi University to conduct Online Open Book Examination 2020 for Final Year Students

On Friday, Delhi High Court allowed Delhi University to conduct online open-book exams (OBE) for final-year students, in compliance with the directions passed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the court, including providing question paper in the mail as well as on the official portal. The online OBE is set to begin from Monday, August 10.

Initially, the university had announced that the online OBE would commence from July 1, but the date was later pushed to July 10, and subsequently to August 15. 

The decision comes a day after the high court observed that the final year students of the Delhi University "were not thoroughly prepared" to participate in the online open book examination (OBE) proposed by the varsity.

The order was pronounced by a Single Judge Bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh in the petition preferred by students of Delhi University. Petitioners had challenged the varsity’s decision to conduct the online OBE, citing it to be discriminatory.

Here are few important directions Delhi HC bench passed:

• Question papers have to be available both on the portal and email ID of the students
• Students to be given one hour extra for uploading the answer sheets
• Auto-generated email shall be sent informing students that their answer sheets have been accepted
• DU has to ensure that Centralised Email ID has enough capacity to hold responses from all the students

"I wish all the students as well as the University all the best for conducting the exams", Justice Prathiba Singh said after pronouncing the order. The Court will next consider the matter on September 22 to ascertain the compliance of its directions.

Delhi University is scheduled to begin the online open book examination from August 10 to August 31. Students who are not able to appear for the online examinations would be given an opportunity to appear for the exams later in the month of September.

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