Chennai, Apr 15 (IANS): The government of Tamil Nadu informed the Madras High Court on Thursday that no student will be promoted without taking an online exam. The government had earlier taken the position that exams will be cancelled in view of the Covid 19 pandemic and has now taken a diametrically opposite stand before the High Court.

The government has responded to a PIL filed by Advocate Ramkumar Adityan and another one filed by former Vice Chancellor of Anna University, E. Balaguruswamy. When the case came up for hearing, the state informed the court that it had decided to conduct online examinations as the court had clearly stated that it is not acceptable that the government cancel examinations.

Advocate General Vijay Narayanan deposed before the court that the government has decided to abide by the UGC guidelines and that it will be mandatory for all students with arrears to appear for online exams.

The first bench of the Madras High Court of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy directed the state government to conduct online exams preferably within eight weeks.

The court had on April 7 observed, "It is inconceivable that a whole mass of students will be certified to have qualified in a system without having basic knowledge in respect of key aspects."

The bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy also observed, "There is no doubt that lakhs of students who had thought that they had cleared the particular course after writing their final semester may have to be held back as they have not cleared the previous papers. However at the same time unqualified persons cannot be certified to have qualified to pursue professional courses or even higher studies."