Hearing of a PIL on Friday, the Supreme Court sought a detailed response from the Centre and the CBSE on the grievances arising from the on-screen marking system, including the complaints from the students who were unable to avail themselves of the one-week grievance window.
Supreme Court passed the order while hearing the public interest litigation, which seeks rules for OSM-based exams and an effective redressal mechanism for students affected by alleged evaluation lapses.Allowing time till Monday, the top court asked centre to file an affidavit, with the court set to consider the issue in view of ongoing admissions and its potential impact on students’ careers.
Appearing for the board, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench headed by Chief Justice of India Suryakant that a one-member committee had been constituted to examine complaints concerning the examination process. He informed that CBSE had later opened a grievance redressal portal for a week through which nearly 1.68 lakh students sought re-evaluation of their answer sheets. He further sought time until Monday to accumulate the details and place it before the court through an affidavit after consulting the government.
Additionally, the top court also asked the petitioner to file a rejoinder with a table categorizing cases that may require intervention. This will include students who applied within the grievance period, but received no response; those who did not receive their answer sheets or re-evaluation results; and those who could not apply due to lack of internet access and other infrastructure-related issues.The petitioner’s counsel, however, argued that the number of affected students was large and that one week was too short for students to approach the authorities. The counsel said students were still approaching them with complaints, including some who had filed applications but allegedly had not received their answer sheets or re-evaluated results.
The petitioner urged the court to consider reopening the grievance window, which Mehta replied it will not be feasible. He told the court that the issue could not be considered in isolation as CBSE results are connected to other entrance examination and admission processes.