New Delhi, April 4 (IANS): The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a bunch of petitions challenging the CBSE’s decisions regarding the leaked Economics and Maths question papers of Class 12 and 10.
A bench of Justice S.A. Bobde and Justice L. Nageswara Rao it was the “discretion of the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) to conduct the re-examination and court will not interfere”.
The bench asked the students who had challenged the CBSE’s decision to appear in the examination if it was conducted. On Tuesday, the CBSE said there would be no re-examination of Class 10 maths paper as “internal inquiries and analysis” revealed that the leak “may be confined to few alleged beneficiaries”.
The government on March 30 had announced the re-examination would be held for Class 12 economics paper throughout the country on April 25 while a fresh test for Class 10 maths paper would be held only in Delhi, NCR and Haryana, if needed, in July.
Besides challenging the CBSE’s decision, the pleas also wanted a CBI probe into the alleged question paper leak, saying several incidents were reported from various states and Delhi Police was not competent to hold the nation-wide probe.
Kerala student Rohan Mathew and two others moved the Supreme Court seeking quashing of the CBSE decision to re-conduct the Class 10 mathematics examination, saying it was arbitrary, illegal and violative of the Constitution’s Article 14 (equality before law), Article 21 (right to life and liberty) and 21A (right to education).
Mathew, represented by his father Santhosh Mathew, a lawyer at the Kerala High Court, also sought stringent action against the erring officials of the CBSE for “jeopardising the career of nearly 16 lakh students who appeared for the exam”.
Another plea was filed in the top court by Reepak Kansal challenging the decision of the CBSE to cancel and re-conduct the two papers.
HRD Ministry forms panel to study CBSE exam process
In the backdrop of the Class 12 economics question paper leak, the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has set up a seven-member committee to examine the board’s examination process.
The committee constituted on Tuesday and headed by former HRD Secretary Vinay Sheel Oberoi will examine the conduct of Class 10 and Class 12 examinations by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in order to prevent leak of question papers and revisit all aspects related to security checks built into the system to ensure question papers reach examinees without tampering, a Ministry statement said.
It will also suggest measures to make the examination process “secure and foolproof through the use of technology”. The panel will submit a report by May 31 to the Ministry. The committee will examine/assess potential weakness in the present system of transporting question papers from the printing presses till they reach the examination halls.
The government announced a re-examination of CBSE Class 12 economics paper on April 25. But it ruled out any re-test for Class 10 mathematics paper, which too was said to have been leaked.
Delhi Police is probing the leak following a complaint by the CBSE.
