Supreme Court asks CBSE Regional Officer (Punjab) to submit report on plea alleging non-compliance of Board's policy in awarding marks

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A Supreme Court bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and C.T. Ravikumar today directed the Regional Officer of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) at Chandigarh to submit a report adjudging the claims of the students and the school that marks awarded to certain students in Class XII were not in compliance with the evaluation policy of CBSE.

When the matter came up for hearing, Advocate Mamata Sharma on behalf of the petitioners alleged that there is no transparency in the process of awarding marks.

She argued that the marks of 11th and 12th were moderated for the evaluation but not of class 10th, despite the policy stating so. She further submitted that as per the policy, marks of all three years should be considered and the best performing year should be taken as the reference year.

Advocate Rupesh Kumar, appearing for CBSE, submitted that if a particular year has been the best for the student, the schools will use the subject-wise average of that particular year.

Court on hearing the submission of the parties was of the opinion that an official of CBSE has to look into the situation and file a report. Court noted that since the grievance of the petitioner is essentially a deviation from the policy statement and that it has been made on the basis of record available with schools concerned, and candidates concerned, therefore, it directed the school authorities and petitioner to appear before the Regional Officer of CBSE at Chandigarh on 21st March 2022 at 11 AM.

Court further directed the officer to ensure that he makes himself available on that day and time and give audience to the representatives of the students and school officers.

The Regional Officer was further directed to submit a report about the correctness of this claim before 28th March. The matter has now been listed for hearing on 1st April.

Case title: Askhpreet Kaur v. CBSE