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The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice in a plea by Central Board of Secondary Education, Class X students against school denying to provide detailed scorecard and answer sheets to conceal alleged malpractices in awarding marks to the class X students.

A bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice CT Ravikumar issued notice to the Central Government, the School and the Central Board of Secondary Education while listing the matter for hearing on February 14, 2022.

The Counsel appearing for the petitioners informed the bench that the respondents has been served, however, none appeared for any of the respondents in the matter.

The petitioners through Advocate Ravi Prakash had sought answer sheets and marks provided by the school in the unit test, mid-term exam, and pre-board exam through RTI from CBSE which has been forwarded to the school directing it to provide the relevant data. However, the school refused to provide answer sheets.

It is alleged that after the notification of the Evaluation Policy by CBSE, the school conducted a Zoom meeting and asked the students to take admission in Class XI in their school and suggested the option of re-writing of answer sheets to get better scores.

The plea has submitted that the students who agreed to the school and took admissions in the same school were awarded very good marks, however, the ones who denied taking admission in class XI, their marks have been arbitrarily and illegally deducted.

It has been submitted that the present case is a glaring example of which shows how corrupt educational institutions played with the education system and used the pandemic as an opportunity for unjust enrichment.

Case Title: Subhasish Behera and Ors. Vs. Central Board of Secondary Education and Ors.