The government will take a final decision within the next two days on whether to conduct class 12 board exams amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court was informed on Monday.

Attorney General K K Venugopal told this to a bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari which was hearing a plea seeking directions to cancel the class 12 exams of the CBSE and Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) in view of the current situation.

"No issue. You take the decision. You are entitled to it. If you are departing from the policy of last year, then you must give tangible reasons for it," the bench told Venugopal.

The apex court on June 26, 2020 had approved the schemes of the CBSE and CISCE for cancellations of remaining board examinations scheduled from July 1 to 15 last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and also approved their formula for assessment of examinees.

At the outset, the attorney general told the bench, "The government will take a final decision within the next two days. We are hoping that your lordships will give us time till Thursday (June 3) so that we can come back with the final decision."

The bench has posted the matter for hearing on June 3.

"List on Thursday as requested by the attorney general as the competent authority is examining all the aspects of the matter and is likely to take in-principle decision which will be placed before the court," the bench said.

The plea, filed by petitioner Mamta Sharma, has also sought directions to devise an "objective methodology" to declare the result of class 12 within a specific time frame.