The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the validity of the UGC's direction to varsities across the country to hold final examinations by September 30.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and M R Shah declared that no state government can promote students without the final examinations.
The court said, the State Disaster Management Authority, however, can decide to postpone the examinations due to Covid-19 pandemic or other reasons after taking consent from the UGC.
The authority's decision to pass students on the basis of previous years' marks by the candidates would be beyond the scope of the law.
The court's judgement came on a batch of petitions filed by Praneeth K, Bengaluru resident, and others, who questioned the validity of the UGC's July 6 directions due to growing cases of Covid-19 and flood in certain states.
On August 18, the court had reserved its judgement in the matter.
The UGC's notification was vehemently opposed by the states like Maharashtra, Delhi, and Odisha.
During the hearing, the Centre maintained even in time of the national disaster, the state authorities cannot override the UGC.
It had earlier maintained the guidelines issued on July 6 were based on the recommendations of experts, after due deliberations and taking into account Covid-19 situation and balancing all relevant factors.