Karnataka govt not in favour of postponement, says 'ready to conduct examination'
The Karnataka government is in no mood to budge despite the high court's direction to reconsider holding KCET exams scheduled for July 30 and 31 in the wake of coronavirus pandemic. Deputy Chief Minister Dr. CN Ashwathnarayan held an emergency meeting via video conference with all the senior officials concerned and district DCs late Tuesday.
The minister said he was confident of conducting the Karnataka KCET exams as scheduled. "All the officials, DCs and police officers have assured full cooperation and are confident of conducting the Karnataka CET exams as scheduled. They are fully prepared as per the Standard Operating Procefure (SOP) and have put in place all the necessary protocols and will take required precautions," he said.
Karnataka Deputy CM/Higher Education Minister Dr. Ashwathnarayan holds meeting on KCET exams
As we have successfully conducted the PUC and SSLC exams even amidst the COVID situation, I am confident we will conduct the CET exams as well without any issues, with the cooperation of all the officials," he added.
The government will inform the High Court tomorrow about the confidence expressed by all the officials in conducting the CET exam, Dr. Ashwathnarayan said.
"The Government is ready to conduct the CET exams as scheduled. However, we will take a call after the High Court decision tomorrow," he said.
Considering the "drastic" rise in COVID-19 cases, the court had said there was a possibility of students missing out on the exam. The court had also questioned the Karnataka government as to how students in containment zones will take exams. "They cannot step out, there are 6,000 containment zones. Please tell us that."
The COVID-19 death toll in Karnataka breached the 2,000-mark on Tuesday while the state reported its biggest single-day spike of 5,536 new cases, taking the total infection count to 1,07,001. Atleast 102 people succumbed to the disease, taking the toll to 2,055.
Of the fresh cases, marginally higher than the previous biggest daily spike of 5,324 on Monday, a total of 1,898 cases were from Bengaluru Urban district. This is the fifth consecutive day that the state is reporting over 5,000 fresh cases.
