New Delhi: The Apex Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre and states on a PIL seeking enforcement of fundamental duties of citizens. The Court was hearing a plea seeking urgent listing of a petition seeking cancellation of physical exams for Class 10 and 12 scheduled to be conducted by all state boards, CBSE, ICSE, and NIOS. Advocate Prashant Padmanabhan mentioned the petition for urgent listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana. He submitted that the matter is regarding Class 10 and 12 exams. "Physical classes couldn't be conducted due to the pandemic", added Padmanabhan.
After hearing brief submissions, the Chief Justice said: "Let the matter go before the bench of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar". Justice Khanwilkar had earlier dealt with petitions in connection with board exams last year.
The plea said many students studying in CBSE, ICSE, NIOS and state board approached the petitioner, Anubha Shrivastava Sahai, for issues they are facing regarding the board exams and are directly affected by the outcome of this PIL. "The other petitioners are students as well as the parents from different states, who were aggrieved by the Boards decision. That, the mental pressure that is created for performance in this exam is so much that every year a number of students commit suicide for fear of underperformance, or of failure," the plea read.
The plea added, "To make the students appear and face examination with the additional fear of getting infected by the Covid-19 virus will not only be unfair but the same will be absolutely inhuman".