Friday, April 28, 2023

Re-evaluation of answer scripts can’t be claimed as a matter of right: Delhi HC

The Indian Express: New Delhi: Friday, 28 April 2023.
While dismissing a student’s plea seeking directions to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to re-evaluate and rectify her Class 10 mathematics answer book, the Delhi High Court said re-evaluation of answer scripts cannot be claimed as a matter of right.
A single judge bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna in its April 11 order observed that the student who sought re-evaluation of her Class 10 board maths answer script, which took place in 2018, had not applied for re-evaluation within time.
“Re-evaluation of answer scripts cannot be claimed as a matter of right. It is always subject to the Rules laid down by the examining authority. This Court cannot be oblivious to the fact that the Board Examinations for Class 10 and Class 12 are conducted by the CBSE at an All India Level. If the schedule as prescribed by the examining authority…was not to be adhered to as per the timelines given, then the whole process of examination would be difficult to be completed in a time-bound manner,” the HC said.
“This would have a cascading effect in that the examination process conducted in a particular year will not attain finality…Therefore, when the petitioner failed to apply for re-evaluation within the time granted, this court will not interfere to give directions in this regard beyond the time schedule prescribed by the examining authority,” it added.
The student had also challenged a notice issued on May 31, 2018, by CBSE laying down the modalities and schedule in respect of the process of verification and re-evaluation of answer books for the candidates who appeared in Class 10th and 12 board examinations for the year 2018.
On this, Justice Pushkarna observed CBSE had given a procedure for evaluation and an examining authority has the “autonomy to lay down Rules pertaining to conduct of an examination, re-evaluation, etc”. “Any claim for reevaluation, as raised in the present case, would be subject to the Rules laid down by the examining authority. The petitioner having failed to adhere to the procedure and timelines for re-evaluation as laid down by the CBSE, no relief can be granted,” the HC said dismissing the plea.
The court also noted that a large number of students appeared in the CBSE board exam and if the process of verification of marks and re-evaluation of examination is not followed strictly as per the timeline, then the whole process will become “unworkable”.
The student had contended that she scored 80 marks in her maths exam which were below her expectation. After her father applied for verification of the marks, the court was informed that as per the online status on the CBSE website, no mistakes were found in the marks awarded to her.
After having applied for verification of marks, the student did not apply for a photocopy of her answer sheet and re-evaluation of the answer sheet as provided by CBSE in the said notice. She got the photocopy of her answer sheet under the Right to Information Act in August 2018 by which time the window for applying for re-evaluation was already over on June 22, 2018.
On this point, the court observed that as admitted by the student, she had failed to apply for the photocopy of her answer sheet and re-evaluation of the same within the stipulated time as per the process laid down by CBSE. “Accordingly, the petitioner is not entitled to relief of re-evaluation of her answer sheet at this belated stage,” the HC said.