For students who believed something had gone wrong with the evaluation of their Class 12 answer sheets, the re-evaluation window was the last route left to seek a correction.The Supreme Court on Tuesday, however, declined to direct the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to reopen its portal for verification and re-evaluation of answer sheets, saying the facility had already been made available to all candidates for a specified period.The hearing came amid continuing complaints over CBSE’s On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, under which physical answer sheets are scanned and made available digitally to evaluators, who check them on computers.The petitioner had sought another week for students to apply, arguing that technical problems with the website had prevented some candidates from using the verification facility. The court did not accept the request.A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana questioned why the window should be reopened after it had already been available to candidates.“Why should we direct them to open this window again for you? If you don’t use the bus, you miss the bus. The window was open for everyone for a specified period,” the Chief Justice said.According to CBSE, 1.68 lakh students successfully applied during the notified window.
What the Supreme Court said on the CBSE portal
The plea before the Supreme Court challenged the manner in which CBSE introduced OSM for evaluation of Class 12 answer sheets and sought relief for students who had concerns about the process.The petitioner’s counsel told the court that the website had crashed and that many students were unable to apply for on-screen verification. The counsel sought an additional week for applications.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for CBSE, told the court that 1.68 lakh students had already successfully applied during the notified period. He also pointed out that the Delhi High Court had dismissed a similar challenge.The Supreme Court declined to issue a direction for reopening the portal.The court’s decision means students who did not use the notified window cannot, at this stage, seek a general reopening of the facility through the direction sought in the petition.
Why students had raised concerns over OSM
The dispute is linked to CBSE’s shift from conventional evaluation of physical answer sheets to the OSM system.Under the system, physical answer sheets are first scanned and then made available to evaluators digitally. Teachers assess the scanned copies on computers rather than checking the physical answer books.The petition alleged that the transition had led to several problems. These included some pages allegedly not being scanned, poor-quality or illegible scans, and instances where answers or pages were allegedly not evaluated.The concerns became a wider issue after students and others questioned the reliability of the digital evaluation process.The Centre subsequently transferred CBSE chairman Rahul Singh and secretary Himanshu Gupta in June amid scrutiny over the procurement and rollout of the OSM system. The government also ordered a probe into the procurement of OSM services.For now, the Supreme Court has declined to create another general window.(with PTI inputs)
