The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to direct the reopening of the CBSE Class XII examination verification and re-evaluation portal for students who had raised concerns over evaluation of their answer sheets through the newly introduced On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana observed that the portal had already been made available to all candidates for a specified period and that reopening it could lead to a large number of fresh claims. CJI Surya Kant, delivering a classic court-side reminder that deadline buses wait for no one.
The Court was hearing a petition challenging the introduction and implementation of the OSM system by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for evaluating Class XII answer sheets in 2026.
The petition contended that OSM was introduced for the first time this year without providing teachers with formal training. It alleged that the digital scanning process resulted in several irregularities, including pages of answer sheets not being scanned, illegible scans and answers or pages being left unevaluated.
According to the petitioner, these technical and procedural issues resulted in arbitrary evaluation and, in some cases, complete non-evaluation of portions of answer sheets.
On August 14, the Supreme Court had directed CBSE to explore measures to safeguard the interests of students who may have faced difficulties in securing admission to entrance-based courses because of low marks.
Counsel for the petitioner urged the Court for a simple one-week extension of the re-evaluation window, submitting that a website crash had prevented numerous students from applying for on-screen verification in time.
CJI Surya Kant questioned the need to reopen the application window, noting that it had already been made available to all students for a specified period. He observed that those who failed to avail themselves of the opportunity within the stipulated time could not seek its reopening.
Counsel submitted that some candidates had faced technical glitches while attempting to apply. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for CBSE, opposed the plea and informed the Court that around 1.68 lakh students had successfully applied during the notified window. The Court accordingly refused to direct reopening of the verification and re-evaluation portal.
Noting that the Delhi High Court had already dismissed a similar challenge, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta opposed reopening the portal. The Supreme Court declined to intervene, with the Bench observing, that reopening the portal at this stage could result in thousands, potentially lakhs, of fresh claims, particularly since the admission process had already concluded.
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