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A petition has been filed before the Delhi High Court seeking a direction to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to refund the examination fees to the students registered in classes X and XII for appearing in Board examinations that have been cancelled for this year.

The petition has been filed by Advocate Deepa Joseph through Advocate Robin Raju who has stated that on June 21, 2021, the petitioner had filed an RTI application seeking information about the total number of students registered for class X and class XII Board exams for the year 2020-21 and also the total amount of examination fees collected from Class X and Class XII students for the academic year 2020-21 which revealed that the probable registered students for Class X is 21,50,759 and for Class XII are 1430258.

The petitioner has stated that it is safe to assume that CBSE has received Crores of rupees as examination fees which is totally unjustified in keeping the money collected from students as examination fees for Class X and XII board exams that have got cancelled

The petitioner also points out that there were reports that the guardians were demanding CBSE exam fees immediately after the news of cancellation of Class X board exams. The news regarding the same was also published in the Telegraph Online on 17.04.2021. It is also germane to note that the demand for refund of examination fees was also raised by the All India Parents Association recently. The news regarding the demand raised by the Association to the respondent was also published in The Indian Express on 07.06.2021. The published news covers stories of people who belong to poor background and for whom the amount collected as examination fee by the Respondent is significant, especially in these difficult financial times.

The petitioner has also sought for a direction to the Ministry of Education to advise CBSE to consider formulating a fresh examination refund policy wherein refund of fees will be granted when unforeseen circumstances like pandemic and subsequent cancellation of exams.

 Case Title :Deepa Joseph vs Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) & Anr.