Mumbai:The Maharashtra government on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court that the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) board cannot be permitted to conduct its pending standard X and XII exams in July because of the current COVID-19 situation.
The government said it has also decided not to conduct its university exams for final year students in the state in the wake of the pandemic.
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Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, appearing for the state, told a division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice S S Shinde that the State Disaster Management Committee, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, held a meeting on Tuesday where it was decided not to permit the ICSE board to conduct its exams.
The state government cannot permit the conduct of ICSE exams from July 2, given the current COVID-19 situation in the state, Kumbhakoni told the court.
The ICSE board had decided to conduct its pending examinations from July 2 to 12 across the state after they could not be held in March due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
A petition was then filed by city resident Arvind Tiwari challenging the board's decision, claiming that the number of COVID-19 cases was still on the rise.