NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Kerala government‘s decision to hold physical exams for Class XI from September 6 as the state continues to report a rising trend in Covid infections.
Calling the situation in the southern state “alarming”, the apex court said that children cannot be exposed to the risk when the state is accounting for nearly 70 per cent of the cases in the country.
“Prima facie we find force in submission made by petitioner that the state government has not seriously considered the prevailing situation before having a physical exam proposed to be conducted in September this year. As we couldn’t get a satisfactory response from counsel for the state in this regard, we grant interim relief staying the offline exam for till next date of hearing,” said a bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar, Hrishikesh Roy and C T Ravikumar.
Covid pandemic live updates
The court has posted the next hearing on September 13.
The bench was hearing an appeal against the Kerala high court order refusing to interfere with the decision to hold offline exams.
The appeal stated that holding physical exams when the Covid-19 cases are at their peak in the state was a huge risk, especially since the children are not vaccinated.
Around three lakh students were eligible to take the exams.
Kerala’s overall cases have breached the 41-lakh mark amid no let up in the Covid situation in the state. On Thursday, it reported 32,097 fresh Covid cases and 188 deaths.
(With inputs from PTI)
Calling the situation in the southern state “alarming”, the apex court said that children cannot be exposed to the risk when the state is accounting for nearly 70 per cent of the cases in the country.
“Prima facie we find force in submission made by petitioner that the state government has not seriously considered the prevailing situation before having a physical exam proposed to be conducted in September this year. As we couldn’t get a satisfactory response from counsel for the state in this regard, we grant interim relief staying the offline exam for till next date of hearing,” said a bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar, Hrishikesh Roy and C T Ravikumar.
Covid pandemic live updates
The court has posted the next hearing on September 13.
The bench was hearing an appeal against the Kerala high court order refusing to interfere with the decision to hold offline exams.
The appeal stated that holding physical exams when the Covid-19 cases are at their peak in the state was a huge risk, especially since the children are not vaccinated.
Around three lakh students were eligible to take the exams.
Kerala’s overall cases have breached the 41-lakh mark amid no let up in the Covid situation in the state. On Thursday, it reported 32,097 fresh Covid cases and 188 deaths.
(With inputs from PTI)
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