The Delhi High Court has said that a student should be awarded full marks if the examiner fails to properly indicate a correct answer, even after placing a tick mark.
Justice C. Hari Shankar said the consequences of an examiner's lapse should not impact the student, maintaining that the student deserves the benefit of the doubt.
The court clarified that, regardless of any errors made by the examiner, as long as the answer sheet doesn't explicitly label the response as incorrect, the student should receive the allocated marks for the question.
Justice Shankar said "the student cannot be made to suffer", pointing out the importance of ensuring students are not penalised for an examiner's oversight.
The ruling came as the court granted full marks to a student in a Class 12 Board Examination's Geography paper.
The student had argued that the examiner had placed two tick marks against her answer, justifying her claim for full marks.
CBSE contested the student
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) contested this, citing the absence of a mark in the margin.
Dismissing CBSE's argument, the court stressed the examiner's authority in determining the correctness of an answer.
The court said that if the answer is correct, the student is entitled to marks, further asserting that if no marks below the maximum were assigned, the student should receive the full marks.
Justice Shankar concluded the judgement by directing CBSE to issue a corrected mark sheet to the student, adding five marks for the disputed question.
