The Delhi University on Monday informed the High Court that it has launched an online portal for issuing digital degrees for medical students who have not yet received their certificate, PTI reported. The court gave the university time till August 13 to send the digital degree certificates to all students via email.

A bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh was hearing a bunch of petitions by 21 doctors who completed their MBBS between the years 2017 and 2018 from Lady Hardinge Medical College, Maulana Azad Medical College and University College of Medical Sciences. The colleges, which are affiliated with the Delhi University, have not given the students their degrees till date on the ground that their contract with the printer had expired amid the countrywide lockdown to contain the coronavirus.

The Delhi High Court had earlier pulled up the university for not taking proper steps to issue digital degrees and said there was a “complete collapse of administration” and it reflected a “sorry state of affairs”. It then asked the Delhi University to prepare a sample digital degree with the assistance of officials from Digilocker, an initiative by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the IT Department of the court.

The sample digital degree was sent to the court in an email. The Delhi University said that through the new online portal, www.digicerti.du.ac.in, the digital certificates will be issued to students within a week.

Singh on Monday said he had found the contents of DU’s digital degree satisfactory. “The issuance of similar digital degree certificates duly verified by two officials of the DU and digitally signed by the authorised officer of the DU would in the court’s opinion, satisfy the purpose of the petitioners,” he added.

The court directed the university to send the certificates by August 13, as the students wish to apply for their residency programmes in the United States and to appear for the United States Medical Licensing Examination.

It added that the doctors, represented through advocate Sarthak Maggon, are free to use the digital degree certificates for the purpose of their applications. In case the United States Medical Licensing Examination.authorities need any clarification, the court said they may be addressed to the email IDs of DU Computer Centre Sanjeev Singh and Dean of Examination Professor Vinay Gupta.

Singh also asked the DU authorities to explore the possibility of issuing marksheets and transcripts digitally and asked them to file their response on its scope in an affidavit.

“Let the above measures and timelines thereto be placed on record by means of an affidavit by DU,” Singh added. “Let an affidavit be also placed on record by MEITY/ Digilocker as to what are the steps that DU needs to take to ensure that the data is made available to the students through Digilocker.”

The court said the affidavits need to be filed within two weeks and listed the matter for further hearing on September 7.