Delhi HC seeks Centre, CBSE response on OSM irregularities plea; Board defends evaluation system
The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on a public interest litigation (PIL) alleging irregularities in the Board's newly introduced On-Screen Marking (OSM) system for evaluating Class 12 board examination answer sheets.
A Bench of Justices Neena Bansal Krishna and Madhu Jain sought responses from the Union government and CBSE and listed the matter for further hearing on June 12.
Filed by the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) through its president Vinod Jhakhar, the PIL questioned the fairness, transparency and reliability of the digital evaluation mechanism. It alleged that thousands of students encountered issues such as blurred scans, missing pages, mismatched answer sheets, incomplete uploads and unexpectedly low marks after the declaration of Class 12 results.
The OSM system involves scanning physical answer sheets, digitally masking student identities and evaluating the scripts on computer screens.
The petition argued that Class 12 board marks directly affect university admissions, scholarships, entrance eligibility and future academic opportunities.
"Class XII board marks are not only a record of academic performance. They determine admission to universities, professional colleges, scholarship opportunities, entrance eligibility and the overall academic future of students," the plea stated.
According to the petition, the concerns raised are not isolated incidents but point to larger systemic issues affecting lakhs of students assessedunder the new digital evaluation framework.
The PIL also referred to CBSE's public communications acknowledging technical glitches in the portal used to provide scanned copies of answer books to students. It noted that applications relating to nearly 3.87 lakh answer books were submitted after the portal was restored, arguing that the large volume of requests reflected widespread concern among students regarding the evaluation process.
The petition further contended that students whose answer sheets were properly scanned and evaluated could not be equated with those allegedly affected by scanning defects, mismatches or technical failures. It claimed this amounted to arbitrary and unequal treatment in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution.
The plea also questioned the adequacy of the grievance redressal mechanism, alleging that students had limited digital remedies and no meaningful option for manual verification or independent rechecking of disputed answer sheets.
Seeking judicial intervention, the petition requested directions to reopen the verification portal for one month, permit manual rechecking and physical verification in disputed cases, order an independent inquiry into the alleged irregularities and frame safeguards for future digital evaluation systems.
Meanwhile, CBSE issued a clarification stating that the verification and re-evaluation application window remained fully functional throughout the notified period from June 2 to June 7 under the supervision of government technical agencies and teams from the IITs.
According to the Board, more than 1.6 lakh candidates successfully submitted requests concerning over 3.8 lakh answer books during the application period, demonstrating extensive use of the post-result services.
In a statement posted on X, CBSE said the system remained under continuous monitoring by dedicated cybersecurity teams to prevent malicious traffic and cyber threats. It added that dedicated CBSE teams provided proactive support to students through helpdesks and grievance redressal channels.
The Board also addressed complaints regarding the "Roll Number Not Found" message on the portal, explaining that the message appeared when a candidate had not successfully applied during the first phase of the post-result process for obtaining scanned copies of answer books.
"As clearly outlined earlier, only those candidates who had applied for their scanned answer books during the preceding stage were eligible to avail the subsequent stage of verification and re-evaluation,"CBSE said.
Reiterating its commitment to transparency, the Board said it remains focused on ensuring a student-centric and seamless post-result process while addressing genuine concerns through its grievance redressal mechanisms, helpline support and other communication channels.