Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Tuesday turned down the proposal of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to cancel the final year university examinations amid pandemic situation and called it 'unprecedented and violations of the University Act.'
According to an official statement, Governor Koshyari asserted that the Chancellor of Universities has the final authority over all university matters as per the provisions of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act.
He also conveyed to Chief Minister Thackeray that decision regarding holding the examinations of final year students 'shall be taken in consonance with the provisions of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act.'
"The announcement of the cancellation of examinations by the Chief Minister as 'unprecedented' and made 'without any profound thinking on the legal repercussions'. The decision, if implemented, would jeopardize the future of students," said the Governor.
According to the statement, in a letter to the Chief Minister sent today, the Governor said that he was 'surprised' to learn through media reports that the former had declared that 'no examinations shall be conducted this year', while he was still awaiting a response to his letter to the Chief Minister.
In the letter, the Governor wrote, "The University Grants Commission (UGC) and other central authorities are of the view that the final year examination may not be dispensed with and that therefore the State Government should abide by the UGC guidelines along with the provisions of the Maharashtra Universities Act, 2017."
The Governor pointed out that during his video conference with Vice Chancellors, all the Vice-Chancellors of state universities had communicated their preparedness for conducting their respective examinations.
The Governor stated that he had clearly mentioned that the Chancellor's office shall give further directions after accepting the recommendations of the Committee partially or fully once the report was received by him.
Thackeray in an address to the State on Sunday evening announced that with the lockdown extended till June 30, the State has no choice but to promote final-year students based on their performance of the previous semester and academic year.
Earlier on Saturday, Thackeray directed Vice-Chancellors of non-agricultural universities in the State to find out ways to end uncertainty over holding examinations for the delayed academic session.
According to the Health Department, there are 72,300 COVID-19 cases in the State including 38,493 active cases, 31,333 discharged and 2,465 deaths and nine deaths due to other causes.
( With inputs from ANI )