The Court may interfere when a decision is devoid of any reason or affected by malafides or when the decision is reached after statutory violations: Kerala High Court
It appeared that the students pursuing state syllabus would have an opportunity to score well if some effort was put on and not the other way around. The writ petition had been dismissed because petitioners have not made any case for interference held by Hon’ble Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V in Mohammad Midlej C (Minor) versus State of Kerala [ WP(C) 15971/2021]. A Division Bench of this Court refused to interfere, holding that the petitioner in the said writ petition had failed to establish any arbitrariness or illegality on the part of the respondents.
The facts leading to this case relate to the writ petition filed by six students of plus one class who have approached the court impugning notification dated 28.5.2021 issued by the General education department of the state. The first-year higher secondary examination has been conducted from 6.9.2021 to 16.9.2021. The petitioners seeking to quash the notification mentioning the issues related to the online study due to pandemics, so all students are not able to get the proper classes due to the internet issues, lockdown in state and other related problems like dangerous for health and life. Under article 21 of the Indian constitution, the Right to life will hamper and seek the internal examination like the CBSE board conducted for class 10th and 12th.
Respondent also kept the points like this examination has been supposed to conduct in April month. Still, due to the pandemic, it has been cancelled, and the examination date has been announced well in advance. The student got enough time for preparation. The Focus area has also been isolated. It has also been decided to double the questions so that the students attend only 50% of the questions to get full marks in each subject. The Plus Two online classes were stopped on 31/07/2021. Plus, one revision class commenced on 2.8.2021, and it is stated to continue till 14/08/2021. This exam is essential for admissions to good colleges for higher studies because it will add those marks. All preventive measures will be taken for the Covid situation.
Judgement of the Petition based on the following points pointed by Sri. Hood, the learned Senior Government Pleader. He would point out that the apprehension expressed by the petitioners are misconceived. Several 1000 students eagerly wait to test themselves in the exam, and the petitioners do not represent such students. It was pointed out that the respondents took note of the difficulties faced by the students, and the SCERT were asked to identify focus areas and teachers were asked to emphasize those areas and classes were stopped to enable the students to prepare for the Plus One examination and courses are slated to commence only after the exams. None of the petitioners has a case that at any point of time, they have informed either the respondents or the School concerned that they are unable to access the classes for lack of devices or poor internet connectivity.
The Hon’ble High Court at Kerala stated that “The examination schedule was from 6.9.2021 to 16.9.2021, and no exception can be taken on the same”. The Hon’ble High Court at Kerala said that the decision taken by the government to conduct the examination is a totally satisfactory and purely subjective process in good faith. His Lordship held, “It is immune from judicial review.” It is submitted that if the conduct of the exams is interfered with, the whole admission process will get derailed. The same would affect the interest of the entire student community. The combined scores of First and Second Year Examinations and grades obtained thereupon shall determine the candidate’s eligibility for higher studies. The focus area has been already described, which will help the student to get good marks and option given to students to complete only 50% questions and can get 100% marks.