New Delhi, June 22: The Supreme Court on Monday disposed of a petition filed by a CBSE Class 12 private candidate from Saudi Arabia after the Centre informed the court that a new national policy had been notified to address the concerns of students affected by the cancellation of CBSE examinations in several West Asian countries due to security concerns and war-related tensions.
A Bench comprising Justices S.V.N. Bhatti and Vipul M. Pancholi took on record the policy notified on June 21 and noted the submission made by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the petitioner’s result had already been declared and communicated.
The case originated from a petition filed by Pransu Jigarkumar Patel, a Class 12 Improvement Examination candidate from Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Patel had approached the apex court seeking declaration of his result after it remained withheld despite the introduction of a special assessment mechanism for students impacted by examination cancellations in West Asian countries.
During the hearing, the Centre informed the court that CBSE examinations had been cancelled across seven Gulf nations, affecting both regular school candidates and private candidates. According to the government, while regular students could be assessed using existing school-based evaluation records, private candidates faced a separate challenge because they did not possess internal assessment records such as quarterly, half-yearly or pre-board examination marks.
To address this issue, the government formulated a separate assessment framework specifically for private candidates under the newly notified policy.
Under the revised mechanism, marks for subjects in which examinations were cancelled will be calculated by assigning 40 per cent weightage to theory marks obtained in the Class 10 Board examination and 60 per cent weightage to theory marks secured in the Class 12 Board examination.
The Solicitor General informed the court that the petitioner’s result had been computed using the revised formula and that the marks awarded were higher than his earlier performance. The result has already been communicated to the student through email and will also be made available through DigiLocker.
The newly notified policy further allows students who are dissatisfied with their assessed marks to appear in the next regular examination conducted by the board.
Counsel representing the petitioner acknowledged before the court that the result had been declared. However, a request was made seeking protection of the student’s right to obtain answer scripts and pursue re-evaluation in accordance with CBSE regulations. The Bench observed that these issues were not part of the original relief sought in the petition.
While disposing of the matter, the Supreme Court clarified that the petitioner would remain free to pursue any available legal remedies if any grievance still survives.
The dispute arose after the cancellation of CBSE examinations, including mathematics, English and computer science papers, in parts of the Gulf region due to prevailing security concerns. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had issued notices to CBSE and its Dubai Regional Office after the petitioner argued that the delay in declaring his result had adversely affected his prospects for admission to a B.Tech programme and infringed upon his constitutional rights.
With the notification of the new assessment policy and declaration of the result, the matter now stands closed before the apex court.
