Supreme Court rejects plea to cancel offline exams of Class 10, 12: Reports

On February 23, the Supreme Court rejected a plea seeking cancellation of offline exams of Class 10 and Class 12, to be conducted by all State Boards, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), and National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). The SC reportedly said that such petitions give 'false hope and create more confusion' for the students. The bench was headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar who also slammed the petitioners' counsel to encourage such pleas. He said that the authorities are more aware of ground reality and should take such decisions and the court should not interfere in it.

The bench also comprised of Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice CT Ravikumar. While dismissing the plea, the bench said, "This petition is ill-advised and premature. Authorities are yet to take a decision for exam rules and dates in respective boards. If decisions are not in accordance with rules and Act it will be open to aggrieved persons to challenge in that regard." The benched added that if the petitioner files such a complaint in the future, an exemplary fine will be imposed. However, the court refrained from imposing a cost on them this time.

Earlier, CBSE had announced the dates for physical exams for Class 10 and Class 12 term 2 exams. The exams will be held from April 26. Also, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) may hold exams for ICSE Class 10 and ISC Class 12 in the last week of April. To note, last year, examinations had been conducted through online mode due to the COVID pandemic.