NEW DELHI:
The Supreme Court today dismissed the plea of a student of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (COUNCIL) for re-test/re-examination for students who have failed in Class 9th and 11th in schools affiliated to the Council.
The relief was sought by the petitioner on the basis of the notification of May 13 this year issued by the CBSE granting a one-time relief to its students who had failed in Class 9th and 11th, to appear in a school-based re-test, in light of the COVID–19 pandemic. The petitioner had, on the basis of that notification, sought parity with students of CBSE and had requested the Supreme Court to issue directions to the Council to adopt, formulate and implement similar norms as prescribed by CBSE in its notification and grant him an opportunity of re-test.
The Council opposed the grant of the said relief to the petitioner as it was in contravention to the policy laid under its Regulations. The apex court, after hearing the parties, dismissed the petition and cited a number of reasons for not granting the relief of re-examination/re-test.
The Supreme Court said the Council has the policy of not promoting students from class 11th to 12th on the basis of re-examination/re-test, as is evident from its Regulations. Therefore, the Court cannot issue directions to the Council which are in contravention to its Regulation. It further observed that the Council and CBSE are two distinct and independent boards and the Council is free to adopt its own modalities for ensuring academic standards. Therefore, the Court cannot direct the Council to follow the norms specified by some other Board.
The Supreme Court further said that any direction to the Council for granting an opportunity of re-examination/re-test to students who have failed in Class 9th and 11th may give rise to several such petitions and may adversely impact the academic year which has already commenced from June 2020.
The case of the Council was conducted by Advocate on Record Sandeep Devashish Das.
