Why can't students come to college? Delhi High Court refuses to interfere with DU decision to conduct physical exams

At a time when everything is opening up after the latest wave of COVID-19, why can’t students come to college, the Delhi High Court asked as it refused to quash the decision of Delhi University (DU) to conduct all examinations from May physically [Mohit Gandhi and Ors v. University of Delhi and Anr].."They are trying to reduce a full-time course into a part-time one," counsel for the University argued.Justice Rekha Palli was dealing with a petition filed by a group of DU students challenging the University's decision to start physical classes from Thursday and to conduct exams, even semester-end ones, offline..Appearing for students, Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde argued that DU is a unique place where thousands of students from across the country study. He said that many of these students come from poor backgrounds who cannot manage to come to Delhi and rent accommodation only for three weeks.“There are now only 21 working days left. The consequence of having to come to Delhi and hire an accommodation which are not even COVID-compliant would be almost ₹1 lakh… All we are saying is that the classes should be in blended/hybrid mode,” Hegde said..The Court, however, said that students from across the country must come to Delhi to attend classes.“We all read what is happening. People are getting 99% marks and taking admission in DU and Delhi students are not getting admission. I think this is a very good thing. But now that they have taken admission, they have to come here,” Justice Palli observed.Counsel appearing for the University, Advocate M Rupal, argued that the petition is the nature of a public interest litigation and liable to dismissed with costs since many of these students do not want to attend college despite working in their respective states..Justice Palli said that if the students were only seeking some relaxation on classes, the Court will ask the University’s counsel to obtain instructions. However, she made it clear that the Court would not interfere with the process of examination. “If you are seeking only that they should give you some relaxation, we can do something, but there is no question of online exam. It is high time that we open up. There is no question of this Court directing them to conduct online exam,” Justice Palli remarked..The Court asked the counsel appearing for the University to obtain instructions on conduct of classes in hybrid mode, and listed the case for further hearing next week.