The Punjab & Haryana High Court recently imposed costs of ₹30,000 on a school that erroneously awarded zero marks to a Class X student in her Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) exams. [Riya v. State]
Justice Vikas Bahl observed,
“It would be relevant to note that on account of the mistake made by the school not only the petitioner has suffered but even the respondent-Board had to suffer litigation expenses in the present case without there being any fault on their account.”
As a consequence of the school’s negligence, the marks of two students sharing identical names were inadvertently swapped. Consequently, the student who received zero marks in the 2021 examination was unable to participate in their Class XII board exams.
The student then moved the Court seeking correction of her examination results and the issuance of a revised marks certificate.
It was argued that when the petitioner sought the CBSE’s intervention to rectify the marks, she was informed that the school had not submitted the revised marks on the online portal within the designated timeframe.
It was also submitted that despite repeated requests, the school kept insisting that the application had been forwarded to the Board, but took no further action.
The Court observed that the school’s casual approach was apparent from the fact that despite being served a notice, it opted not to cooperate. Thus, the allegations presented in the petition were left unaddressed by the school.
After considering the submissions, the Court noted,
“the petitioner is stated to have cleared her 11th class examination and could not give 12th class examination on account of the mistake of the school and in case the necessary directions are not passed in favour of the petitioner, then her future would be jeopardized.”
The Court thus imposed a penalty of ₹30,000 on the school for its negligence. The costs were directed to be paid to the CBSE for dragging it into unnecessary litigation.
It also overturned CBSE’s decision that dismissed the petitioner’s request for rectification of her marks and instructed the Board to announce a new result.
Advocates Akshit Mehta and Ashish Gupta for the petitioner.
Deputy Advocate General Naveen Singh Panwar appeared for the State.
Advocate BS Seemar appeared for other respondents.
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