CBSE Gulf Exam Cancellation: Supreme Court Disposes Saudi Student's Plea After Centre Notifies New Policy
The Supreme Court disposed of a plea by a Saudi Arabia-based private CBSE candidate after the Centre notified a new assessment policy for private students in Gulf countries whose Class XII examinations were cancelled due to the regional crisis
The Supreme Court on Monday disposed of a plea filed by a private Class XII candidate from Saudi Arabia after the Centre informed the Court that it had notified a national policy to address the concerns of private students in Gulf countries whose CBSE examinations were cancelled due to the recent international crisis in the region.
The Bench of Justice S.V.N. Bhatti and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi took on record the policy notified on June 21, 2026, and noted that the grievance raised by the petitioner had been substantially redressed.
The matter arose from a writ petition filed by Pransu Jigarkumar Patel, a private candidate from Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia, who challenged the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) failure to declare his Class XII Improvement Examination result after several examinations across seven Gulf countries were cancelled amid regional conflict.
The petitioner contended that while CBSE had issued a special assessment scheme on March 27, 2026, for regular students affected by the cancellations, no mechanism had been devised for private candidates appearing in improvement examinations. As a result, his result had been withheld and marked as "Result Later" (R.L.), adversely impacting his higher education prospects.
Earlier, on June 8, the Supreme Court had issued notice to the Union of India and sought a solution to the issue raised by the petitioner. On June 13, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the Court that the Centre was formulating a policy to address the concerns of similarly placed students and sought time for the same. When the matter came up today, the Solicitor General informed the Court that there were two distinct categories of students affected by the cancellation of CBSE examinations in Gulf countries: regular school students and private candidates.
He explained that while regular students could be assessed based on internal evaluation records such as quarterly, half-yearly and pre-board examination marks, private candidates had no schools to furnish such records, creating a gap in the original assessment framework. To address this issue, the Centre notified a separate formula for private candidates.
Under the new policy, marks for subjects in which examinations were cancelled will be computed by assigning 40 per cent weightage to theory marks obtained in the student's Class X Board examinations and 60 per cent weightage to theory marks secured in Class XII examinations. For determining Class X performance, the average of the student's top three scoring subjects will be considered after normalising the marks against the maximum marks prescribed for each subject.
In Patel's case, examinations in Physics and Chemistry were conducted, whereas Mathematics, English and Computer Science were cancelled. Accordingly, marks for the two conducted examinations were awarded based on actual performance, while marks for the cancelled papers were calculated under the newly notified formula.
The Solicitor General informed the Court that the petitioner's result had already been computed under the new policy and reflected an improvement over his earlier performance. The result had been communicated to him via email and would also be uploaded on DigiLocker. The policy also provides an option for students dissatisfied with the assessed marks to appear in the next regular examination conducted by CBSE.
Counsel for the petitioner acknowledged that the result had been declared but requested the Court to safeguard the petitioner's right to seek copies of answer scripts and pursue re-evaluation in accordance with CBSE rules.
However, the Bench observed that such reliefs did not form part of the original prayers in the writ petition. Justice Bhatti remarked that the Court is generally slow to interfere in examination-related matters and noted that the petitioner's primary grievance stood substantially resolved.
Disposing of the petition, the Court clarified that if the petitioner had any surviving grievance, he would be at liberty to pursue appropriate remedies independently in accordance with law.
The petitioner, one Pransu had appeared as a Private Candidate in the CBSE Class XII Improvement Examination, 2026 from Al Jubail, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in the subjects of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, English and Computer Science. The plea has been filed through AOR Raj Kishor Chaudhary.
During the examination period, due to extraordinary war-related tensions and security concerns prevailing in the Gulf Region, CBSE cancelled examinations of several subjects, including Mathematics, English and Computer Science.
Recognizing the hardship faced by students in West Asian countries, CBSE issued an Assessment Scheme dated 27.03.2026 providing for declaration of results based on Quarterly, Half-Yearly and Pre-Board Examination performance and also contemplated conduct of Special Examinations wherever necessary. Despite the said scheme, the result of the Petitioner was not declared when CBSE announced the Class XII results on 13.05.2026 and his status was shown as “R.L. (Result Later)”.
The Petitioner repeatedly approached CBSE through representations dated 17.05.2026, 21.05.2026 and 30.05.2026 requesting declaration of his result either by applying the Assessment Scheme or by permitting him to appear in a Special Examination. However, no response has been received and the result continues to remain withheld.
Case Title: Pransu Jigarkumar Patel v. The Union of India
Bench: Justices SVN Bhatti and Vipul M. Pancholi
Hearing Date: June 22, 2026