"Chaos Would Prevail If...": Court Warns Against CBSE Mark Upload Errors

The Delhi High Court has ruled that a school should not be permitted to commit errors when uploading a student's internal assessment marks on the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) website and subsequently seek correction through a plea. In addressing a student's request to rectify her internal assessment marks, a single-judge bench of Justice C Hari Shankar said that allowing schools to make mistakes in uploading marks on the CBSE website would lead to chaos. The court stated that if such a practice were allowed, CBSE would need to independently verify each case to determine the actual marks awarded to the candidate.

"The CBSE would also not be in a position to blindly accept such requests, and, if this practice were to be allowed, have to conduct independent verifications in each such case to ascertain the actual marks which the candidate had been awarded," the court added.

 The petitioner, a student in a CBSE-affiliated school in Oman, had approached the court seeking an order for CBSE to her internal assessment marks in social studies for Class 10 in the 2019-20 academic year, raising them from 18 to 20 marks. However, the court referred to CBSE circulars that prohibit mark revisions, stating that they are in the public interest. Justice Shankar expressed regret, noting that it was one of those unfortunate cases where the ruling had to be made based on reason rather than sympathy.

"This is one of those unfortunate cases in which the court regrets that it has to rule from the head and not from the heart," the judge said.

In July 2020, the school notified CBSE of a mistake in uploading internal assessment scores for seven students, including the petitioner's daughter. The school sought corrections, but CBSE, referring to its circulars, rejected the request, asserting that alterations were not feasible.