Postpone COMEDK 2020 exam: PIL in Karnataka High Court

NEW DELHI: Karnataka High Court has received a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the decision to conduct Consortium of Medical Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka Under Graduate Entrance Test (COMEDK UGET) 2020 on August 19. The plea has been filed by Karnataka based advocate, Abdulla Mannan Khan who claims that the examination will turn out to be a ‘havoc’ in the times of COVID-19 pandemic.

COMEDK UGET 2020 is scheduled to be held on August 19. The plea states that the conduction of the COMEDK exam will result in many students losing out their chances of attending it since there is a lack of public transportation in various states. Students who belong to lockdown or containment zones will also not be able to travel and attempt the COMEDK 2020 exam. Khan has also informed the HC that the academic future of the students will not be affected if COMEDK UGET is withheld until JEE Main 2020 and other national level exams are conducted.

My Letter to #COMEDK requesting them to Postpone the examination to after NEET 2020#postponecomedk2020 pic.twitter.com/fDw0CWljxz

— Abdulla Mannan Khan (@mannankhan8) August 6, 2020

Karnataka Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)

Karnataka Examination Authority had issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on July 29 stating the guidelines for conducting the examination during COVID-19 pandemic. This was for the KCET 2020 exam held on July 30 and 31. Khan pointed out that the SOP was vague on a number of aspects and had a lot of loopholes which resulted in chaos at the KCET exam centres. Social distancing was rarely maintained during KCET 2020 which brought in a lot of negative feedback from the public against the authorities.

Students' reactions to #postponecomedk2020

On Twitter, the hashtag #postponecomedk2020 has started trending and most of the students seem to be supporting the plea to postpone the COMEDK exam from August 19 .

Distance from my place to city of exam center is 317 kilometres @deoria to @lucknow there is no any safe transport facility I am unable to attend exam please postpone #COMEDK exam#postponecomedk2020 @advocate_alakh @anubha1812 @mannankhan8 @Beingiiitian @MauryaSaurabh3

— Kushal Pratap Mall (@KushalpratapM5) August 9, 2020

#postponecomedk2020 health more important than exam. Take right decision.

— Subham Kumar (@SubhamK08448769) August 7, 2020

@nidhiindiatv @anubha1812 @mannankhan8 @DrRPNishank #postponecomedk2020 #postponecomedk there is still Lockdown in my state bihar. buses & rail services are stopped. how will i reach my centre into other district. if there is no any transport system. pic.twitter.com/mMyJlQa4k1

— mr.akshat (@im_akkey) August 11, 2020

Every year around 70,000 applicants register for COMEDK UGET. If the plea is accepted by Karnataka HC and held true, then not just COMEDK UGET 2020 but Uni-GAUGE will also have to be postponed.

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