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Private and compartment students of CBSE have approached the Supreme Court by way of an intervention application in the matter of Mamta Sharma v CBSE seeking cancellation of Class XII private/compartment/ repeaters CBSE Board Exams. 

It has been argued that the policy laid down by CBSE titled as Policy for Tabulation of Marks for Class XII Board Examinations, 2021 and Policy for Tabulation of Marks for Class X Board Exams 2021 based on Internal Assessments conducted by Schools in clause 29 and 31 respectively attempts to give unequal treatment to Private / Patrachar / 2nd chance Compartment candidates of Class X and XII which thereby creates a classification which has no reasonableness, rational and hence, is prima facie, unfair, unjust, arbitrary, and unreasonable and violative of the principles of equality enshrined under Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

“Owing to the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic situation in the country it is not advisable to conduct physical mode examination for the Class XII Private / Patrachar / 2nd chance Compartment candidates, as it would endanger their life and would expose them to an environment that may not be safe.”, the plea states. 

The plea drawn by Advocate(s) Abhishekh Chaudhary, Anubha Sahai, Prabhu Prasanna, Ritika Ritu, Abhishekh Pattnaik and Nabab Singh and filed through Advocate on Record Manju Jetley also seeks for directing CBSE to follow evaluation schemes, similar to that of Maharashtra, Jammu & Kashmir and Odisha, for the Private / Patrachar / 2nd chance Compartment candidates of CBSE Class XII examinations 2021, which would be in the greatest interest of the students at large belonging to these categories.

The petitioners have also averred that like regular students of CBSE, class XIIth private/patrachar/ 2nd chance compartment students are aspiring and equally hopeful of securing admissions in reputed colleges of the country and delaying their exams beyond a reasonable time till a conducive environment is reached would not only loose opportunity to apply and seek admission in these Universities / Colleges, but they will also be denied their fundamental right to education.

“This would not only be unfair and unreasonable but would also be violative of the Article 14 of the Indian Constitution, as no medical expert, professional scientist, body or agency can say conclusively about any date, probable or otherwise, which may be considered as conducive for conducting the examinations for Class XII Private / Patrachar / 2nd chance Compartment candidates.”, the plea also states. 

The petitioners thereafter have also sought for directing the board to arrive at a formula for evaluation of the performance Class Xth and XIIth private / compartment / repeaters students in line with the assessment formula adopted by CBSE and other Education Boards for the regular students and to release the results in a time bound manner. Along with this reliefs have been sought to direct the CBSE to allow Class X & XII private / compartment / repeaters students to file their objections within a reasonable period of time, in case they are not satisfied with the results so published and resolve their grievances/ objections by giving them fair and equal treatment with that of regular students.