The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Delhi High Court, raising concerns over alleged irregularities and technical glitches in the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) On-Screen Marking (OSM) system. These issues reportedly affect the evaluation of Class 12 students’ answer sheets.
NSUI President Vinod Jhakhar spearheaded the petition, which calls for judicial intervention to award compensatory marks to students who were adversely affected by missing, blurred, or incorrectly evaluated answer scripts. The plea emphasizes the need for an independent investigation into the alleged widespread irregularities, technical failures, and inadequacies associated with the OSM system. Furthermore, it seeks orders for manual rechecking and physical verification of answer sheets in cases where students contest the accuracy of scanned copies or the evaluation process.
The petition also requests the Court to mandate that the verification and re-evaluation portal remain accessible for an additional month, thereby providing affected students with sufficient time to pursue remediation. NSUI’s legal representatives informed Bar and Bench that they are working to have the matter listed in court this week. However, due to the ongoing summer vacations, the Delhi High Court is currently operating on a limited schedule, with benches convening on alternate days.
In their petition, NSUI argues that the Class 12 examination results are pivotal for students, as they influence university admissions, scholarship opportunities, and access to professional courses. Consequently, any errors in the evaluation process could severely impact students’ academic and professional futures.
The petition references a substantial number of complaints from students, parents, and educators nationwide, highlighting issues such as blurred scanned answer sheets, missing pages, incomplete uploads, mismatched answer sheets, and unexpectedly low scores following the release of results. NSUI contends that these reports reflect systemic deficiencies in the OSM system, rather than isolated incidents.
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According to the petition, CBSE has publicly acknowledged technical problems with the portal used for accessing scanned answer books. The petition highlights that approximately 1,27,146 applications concerning 3,87,399 scanned answer sheets were submitted shortly after the results were declared. “This figure signifies a significant level of concern and lack of confidence among students regarding the process. When such a large number of students request scanned copies immediately after the result declaration, the issue cannot be dismissed as a routine post-result formality,” the plea asserts.
The legal challenge has been filed through advocates Rishav Ranjan and Ajay Chhikara.
