Stating that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) cannot deny a student the right to check evaluated answer scripts, the high court recently granted the provision to a student who claimed that he had done well in two subjects than what the marks reflected. He approached the court alleging that the board was not allowing him to check the answer scripts.
The 19-year-old Sharman Biswas approached the court in 2011, alleging that copies of the answers scripts in mathematics and computer science in the senior school examinations for 2010 were not being supplied to him by the CBSE. He secured 88 in English, 95 in physics, 90 in chemistry, 73 in mathematics and 83 in computer science. He claimed to have done better in mathematics and computer science.
Justice Ashok B. Hinchigeri observed that it is no more an ‘untouched’ area, as the Supreme Court has held that an examination board does not hold the evaluated answer books in ‘fiduciary relationship’. These bodies will have to permit inspection sought by the examinees (students or who take up exams). The court directed the CBSE to permit the student to look at the evaluated answer scripts. The court directed the student to go the regional office of the Board in Chennai with further directions to the board to permit the student to inspect the answer scripts by collecting administrative costs, if any.