Following the CBSE 12th results, the controversy over the digital evaluation of answer sheets, or the on-screen marking (OSM) system, has reached the courts. On Monday, the Delhi High Court issued notices
to the central government and the CBSE and seeking their responses. This action followed a petition filed by the opposition student organisation NSUI, which alleged widespread technical flaws.
Considering the seriousness of the issue, the court’s vacation bench (Justice Nina Bansal Krishna and Justice Madhu Jain) held an urgent hearing and scheduled the next hearing for June 12. In court, the student body demanded manual rechecking of answer sheets and the awarding of “compensation marks” to affected students. The CBSE, however, questioned the legality of the petition, describing it as an attempt to politicise education.
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This year, instead of manually checking answer sheets, the CBSE implemented an on-screen marking system, under which answer sheets were scanned and then evaluated online. It is alleged that blurred scans, technical glitches, and major discrepancies in marks came to light soon after the CBSE results were announced. The contract for this system was given to Coempt Edu Tech just 74 days before the exams began. The Ministry of Education has already sought a report from the board, and several senior officials have been replaced.
During the hearing, CBSE counsel MA Niazi strongly opposed the petition. He argued that it had been filed by the student wing of a political party (NSUI) with the sole aim of politicising educational issues, and therefore did not deserve to be heard. On the other hand, lawyers representing NSUI President Vinod Jakhar contended that when more than 1.6 lakh students have applied for re-evaluation of over 3.8 lakh answer sheets, the issue cannot be dismissed as routine. They described it as a breach of students’ trust.
Key demands in the petition
The petition, filed through advocates Rishabh Ranjan and Isha Bakshi, primarily seeks three forms of relief:
Manual and physical re-checking: Answer sheets of students who doubt the digital copies or the evaluation process should be rechecked manually and physically.
Extension of portal deadline: The portal for re-evaluation and marks verification should remain open for an additional month so that students who missed the earlier deadline can also apply.
Compensatory marks: Students whose answer sheets are allegedly missing, too blurred, or incorrectly evaluated should be awarded compensatory marks.
The petition further points out that the CBSE itself admitted that technical problems occurred on the portal while downloading scanned answer sheets. Moreover, after the glitches went viral on social media, the board clarified that the URL in question was only a testing site containing sample data. The petitioners argue that the board’s repeated need to issue public clarifications shows that the credibility of digital verification has become highly questionable.
