Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed petitions challenging the decision of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) to cancel Class 12 examination.
The apex court in it's order gave a nod to go ahead with the assessment scheme brought out by the Boards to evaluate the students' examination pattern.
A vacation bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari observed, "The fact that other boards or institutions have been able to conduct exams, does not mean that the boards before us are bound by those decisions. These Boards are independent Boards. They have taken decision to cancel exams which according to them is in larger public interest of the students",
"We hold that there is no need to interfere with the scheme propounded by CBSE and ICSE. It takes into account concerns of all students," the Court said.
The petitioner Anshul Gupta contended that if competitive examinations like IIT-JEE or CLAT can be held physically, then why should board exams not be held on similar lines.
"Board has taken a conscious decision at the highest level and taken on larger public interest. We are not going to sit in judgment over it," the Court said.
"Are you going to take the responsibility for the students if they get exposed (to COVID)?", the judge asked petitioner Gupta.
The Court also rejected a plea by private and compartment students against CBSE decision to hold offline examinations for them. The plea stated that CBSE's decision amounts to unequal treatment to private/ patrachar/ 2nd chance compartment candidates of Class 10 and 12 since board exams for regular students have been cancelled by CBSE.
