Maharashtra government says no complaints from parents on power cut at exam centres

The state govt, on Friday, informed the Bombay high court that having diesel generators at the 153 SSC/HSC exam centres that would be affected by load shedding, would be dangerous.

The education board also submitted a list of centres where alternative source of power (generators and inverters) had already been installed.

A division bench of justices Abhay Oka and Girish Kulkarni rapped the govt, which remained non-committal on providing uninterrupted power supply to centre that will be hit by load shedding during these exams starting Sept 26, saying: "If a student prepares for the exam for a year and goes to the exam centre to find there is no power, what should he do? Stop writing his exam, and come and complaint to you (state)?"

The court was irate after it had gone through the minutes of a meeting held on Sept 10 among principal secretaries of the departments of Finance, Power and Education. As per the minutes, "no parent had come forward to complain about non-supply of power during exams"; and "the education board should provide power but should not increase exam fees".

The bench said: "Tell us in what manner the state is taking steps to provide electricity to these centres, and why is there a danger in installing generators. It seems children of all those appearing in this matter don't go to exam centres where no power is supplied, and hence they don't understand the issue well."

The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission told the court that there was power shortage in the state and it could not alter the timings of load shedding to give relief to exam centres. (During the last hearing, the court had suggested that the commission check whether it could alter the timings of load shedding).

The board, however, informed the court that at the request of parents, it had ensured that there would be no power cut between 6.30pm and 10pm to facilitate students to study. To which the bench said: "So they will be able to study for the exams, but when they appear at the centres there will be no power."

The court, to verify whether the statement made by the board, represented by advocate Kiran Gandhi, that generators had been installed at some centres, directed the principal secretary of the Education Department to appoint an officer to personally visit those centres and submit a report by Sept 23 on whether such a back up was available, and if yes, was it sufficient for all the class rooms concerned.

The court was hearing a bunch of petitions highlighting the non-implementation of a 2009 high court order that had directed the govt to provide uninterrupted power to exam centres.

FACT FILE
No. of students appearing for SSC/HSC exams starting on Sept 26: Around 2.5 lakh.
No. of exam centres that will be affected by load shedding: 153.
No. of students who appeared for SSC/HSC exams in March-April: 25 to 30 lakh.
No. of centres in March-April: 6,316.
No. of centres affected by load shedding in March-April: 577.