Pinnacle Court kept aside the condition in CBSE policy to consider marks scored in later tests regarding class twelfth

The Supreme Court today kept aside a condition specified in a clause in the CBSE's evaluation policy of June last year which stated that marks obtained in the later examination will be considered as final for assessing Class 12 students

A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and C T Ravikumar said the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) shall provide an option to the candidate to accept the better of the two marks obtained in the subject for the final declaration of his or her results for the last academic year

“We have no hesitation in striking out the policy where marks obtained in the later examination will be considered final. We find no justification in the rule frame. We direct the CBSE to provide the option to the candidate to choose better of the two marks obtained for the evaluation of results,” Justice Khanwilkar said.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati responded that it was a call CBSE took but accepted that there is no need to take a rigid stance on this. She conceded that the court may pass an order.

Clause 28 of CBSE policy states, for Class 12, even if the marks obtained in the original exam were more than in the improvement exams, the improvement exam marks will be considered as final

Now, the students would get the option to choose marks from the two scores. The CBSE earlier told the Supreme Court that it has duly followed the assessment scheme in evaluating marks of Class 12 students whose exams were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic

One can say that earlier, CBSE had earlier partially revised its policy to the extent of allowing students who got a 'Fail' in the improvement exam to retain their 'Pass' result which they got as per the Standard Formula.

Finally the court has passed the order on a plea filed by a various number of students objecting to clause 28 of the policy as per which even if the marks obtained in the original exam were more than in the improvement exams, the betterment exam marks will be considered as final.