"Even 1 Fatality...": Supreme Court Questions Andhra Over Class 12 Exam

The Supreme Court said it would hold Andhra Pradesh responsible for any deaths while holding Class 12 exams and "may order compensation amounting to Rs 1 crore... if there is even one fatality"

The Andhra Pradesh government will be held responsible "if there is even one fatality" as a result of holding in-session Class 12 exams next month, the Supreme Court said Thursday. The court also said it "may order compensation amounting to Rs 1 crore" in the event of any deaths. "If there is even one fatality we may order compensation amounting to Rs 1 crore... when other boards had cancelled, why (does) Andhra Pradesh want to show it is different?" a two-member bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari said this morning. "There are states giving Rs 1 crore as compensation to families of those who died. We may keep this amount for Andhra Pradesh also," the court added, as it asked the state why it was necessary to hold classroom exams when there were new, and aggressive, variants of COVID-19 in circulation. "Other boards took a conscious decision based on the ground reality. There is a new variant - 'delta plus'. Nobody is clear how it will affect us... Who took the decision to hold these exams and what are the parameters on which the decision was taken?" the court asked.