Guwahati: A group of
students of Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) and Board of
Secondary Education, Assam (SEBA) have approached the Supreme Court seeking
directions for the cancellation of Class 10 and 12 state board examinations in
the state.
The
intervener plea has been signed by four students and filed by Supreme Court
advocate Abhishek Choudhary on the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the
board exams that was filed by Anubha Srivastava Sahai.
More
than 20,000 students have signed online petition in support of this.
Relief
has been sought through an application seeking intervention and direction in
the writ petition filed earlier before the Supreme Court for cancellation of
state board examinations.
Recently,
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the board exams will happen if
the positivity rate in Assam touches below 2 per cent in the first week of
July.
"If
Covid positive cases will be down to 2 per cent then we will hold the Class 10
and 12 examinations in mid-July," Mr Sarma said.
Earlier,
the state government had said that they will conduct Class 10 and 12 exams
within August 15.
The
application says that the positivity rate in the Assam on July 1 would have no
relevance in mid-July or August when the examinations are proposed to be conducted.
"Positivity
rate data is very dynamic in nature which has the potential to increase or
decrease exponentially within a span of less than 24 hours," the
application stated.
The
applicants have argued that to ensure safety of physical as well as mental
health of the students and to secure equality among the students of various
boards, it is reasonable and equitable that the state board exams are
cancelled.
The
application has stated that, "classification sought to be made in present
case between CBSE, CISCE and other state board students on one hand and the
students of Assam SEBA and AHSEC board students on the other is prima facie
irrational, unreasonable and is bad in law on the ground of violation of the
basic feature of our Constitution, namely, the principles of equality enshrined
under Article 14 of the Constitution".
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