[BREAKING] Plea moved in Karnataka High Court to withhold conduct of Karnataka COMEDK Exam scheduled for August 19

A Karnataka-based lawyer has approached the Karnataka High Court to withhold the conduct of the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMEDK) Exam scheduled to be held on August 19, 2020. .The plea by Advocate Abdulla Mannan Khan prays for the exam to be conducted after the NEET JEE Examination and that it be withheld till this "Corona Crisis is averted", considering all the lockdowns effectuated in individual states..COMEDK Undergraduate Entrance Test (UGET) is a State-level entrance exam conducted by the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka. .The petition states that COMEDK 2020 is one of the most important exams as it is the career setting path for thousands of students..The Petitioner states that there is a lack of public transportation in various States, which may result in students missing out on the examination, which in turn would be in violation of Article 19 of the Constitution..The plea further avers that there is a violation of the right to equal opportunity under Article 14 involved. This is in view of concerns that while some students from particular States may be able to appear in the exam, others in lockdown may not be able to appear, particularly if these students are in containment zones..Substantiating on why the July 24 notification for the conduct of the COMEDK exam needs to be set aside, the plea states that "there is no immediate urgency to conduct the COMEDK 2020 as it will not have any effect on the students’ academic future."."That the National testing agency has already postponed the national level entrance tests like JEE, NEET, AIBE, CLAT owing to the dreadful COVID-19 prevailing in the country," reads the plea. .It is also pointed out that COMEDK was already postponed more than once, since the month of May. As such, there is no need now to conduct the exam now amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases. .Around 70,000 students are expected to appear for the COMEDK Exam 2020 which is scheduled for August 19 by the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka..The plea also assails the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) dated August 7 for the safe conduct of the exam, also pointing out that it is "merely suggestive.".It adds that the SOP is vague on a number of aspects, including the number of people allowed in a room and the number of people in the baggage area. .The SOP also directs that students remove their face mask in a designated place called the registration desk. Inter alia, a concern is raised that, "the removal of the mask at that place wherein hundreds of students have stood creates a chance of spreading COVID 19 as there is a presence of contaminated Air residues.".It is also noted that the SOP does not allow any student with a temperature of above 99.14 Fahrenheit to write the exam. A concern is raised students may be unfairly prevented from writing the exam on this count as this temperature marker is not always indicative of a person being COVID-19 positive.