The Supreme Court of India has today dismissed the writ petition seeking the cancellation of class 10 and 12 board exams. The petition was filed by activist and advocate Anubha Srivastava Sahai and the student union of Odisha-NYCS. All state boards along with CBSE were the respondents in the writ petition. It was Prashant Padmanabhan who presented the petition before the Chief Justice of India who in turn, referred the matter to Justice A M Khanwilkar.
Board Exams 2022: Quick Facts
| Exam Name | Board Exams 2022 |
| Case Hearing Date | February 23, 2022 (Wednesday) |
| Petitioners | Adv. Anubha Shrivastava Sahai & others |
| Judges | Justice A M Khanwilkar Justice Maheshwari |
| Advocates | Adv Prashant Padhmanabhan for the petitioners Adv Rupesh Kumar for CBSE |
| Court | Hon’ble Supreme Court of India |
| Result | Case Dismissed |
| Board Exam 2022 Petition Case | Explained Here |
| Organizing Body | CBSE, CISCE, NIOS, and state boards |
| Exam Date | CBSE – April 26, 2022 (Term 2 ) |
| Official Website | cbse,gov.in, cisce.org |
| Board Exam Time-table state-wise | Check Here |
The petitioners also informed that in 2020 and 2021, there had been similar problems regarding the conduct of board exams. However, with the court’s intervention, a rational judgment was met. According to them, this year too, there is a need for solutions regarding the logistical issues surrounding the board exams.
Updates
2 PM – 2:20 PM
Case Highlights: Dismissed!
All sides and their lawyers have presented their cases in front of the bench. Advocate Padmanabhan then proceeded to present the directions submitted by CBSE, wherein it was mentioned that the board conducted the Term 1 exam offline, in MCQ-based mode and that Term 2 is being planned under adherence to all COVID protocols.
Following is an account of the remarks given by the honourable judges –
Justice Khanwilkar -These petitions create false hopes, let authorities take a decision. You can challenge that order. Such petitions only create confusion in the system.
Bench – We are not passing any directions. Authorities are working in tandem, if they don’t do it, come to us.
Bench – This petition is ill-advised, premature. Authorities are yet to take a decision for exams in respective boards. If the decision is not in accordance with rules & acts it will be open to aggrieved persons to set challenges in that regard.
Justice Khanwilkar – This has to stop. Don’t come up again, or there will be exemplary costs. Let students & authorities do their job. You can’t PIL like this (referring to the petitioners).
Bench – Dismissed.
Justice Khanwilkar commented such PILs are not to be filed. Students and authorities should work the issue out together and also warned the petitioners of “imposing” costs. The bench then proceeded to dismiss the PIL and flag it as premature and impulsive. Such petitions create false hopes amongst the students, the judges commented.
1:12 PM
#ModijiHelpBoardStudents2022 trends on Twitter as students appeal the PM
Students have been appealing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, using the hashtag #ModijiHelpBoardStudents2022 on Twitter, to help them with the Board Exam situation, just as he did last year when he declared that internal assessment marks will be counted for evaluation.
→ Read the full story here.
12:46 PM
NIOS has filed its response in the Board Exam 2022 case
The National Institute of Open Schooling, Noida, has filed its response against the petition before the Supreme Court stating that it had already made all the necessary arrangements to conduct the exams in April 2022 under strict adherence to all COVID protocols. The reply is given below –
CBSE and CISCE’s replies are awaited.
11:30 AM
Supreme Court proceedings disrupted by connectivity issues
The honorable Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana, today, dismissed the notion of Physical Hearings brought up by Senior Advocate Vikas Singh when he stated that a full physical hearing should commence from the next week, as “Omicron variant was only viral”. The CJI then said that there was a sudden rise of Omicron cases, and the variant can not be taken lightly. He further told that he got infected with the virus in the first wave himself and recovered quickly, but as per reports, the Omicron variant is said to have longer symptoms. (As reported by Live Law)
Today, owing to a connectivity issue, the Board Exam 2022 case was delayed to be heard at 2 PM. Students have similar concerns when it comes to conducting the exams offline. Parents are also under constant fear of the variant and its viral capabilities.
11:30 AM
Advocates representing both the sides
The Board Exam 2022 case will now be heard at 2 PM. This primarily happened due to a connectivity issue at the court. Petitioners and other appellants were not connected, ergo the bench postponed it to a later time.
As per Live Law, the following are the advocates representing the sides –
– Adv Prashant Padhmanabhan for the petitioners
– Adv Rupesh Kumar for CBSE
10:50 AM
Hearing on Board Exam 2022 to commence at 2 PM
Supreme Court hearing on Board exam 2022 will be taken up by the bench comprising Justice A M Khanwilkar at 2 PM today, as posted by the petitioner, Anubha Shrivastava, on her Twitter handle.
10:35 AM
SC permits submission of an advance copy of petition to all respondents (CBSE, ICSE, State Boards)
The Supreme Court of India had permitted the petitioners, Anubha Shrivastava & others to serve an advance copy of the petition to the respondents detailing the concerns. The record of proceeding for this event can be seen below –
9:45 AM
Who is Anubha Shrivastava Sahai – petitioner in the Board Exam 2022 case?
Anubha Shrivastava Sahai is a lawyer, child rights activist, and the President of the India Wide Parents Association. She has been demanding the cancellation of Board Exam 2022, stating that it is unfair to conduct the exams offline after what the students have gone through due to online classes. She represents the students in demanding that the exams be conducted online and /or internal assessment marks be concerned for final merit.
9 AM
Supreme Court order on Board Exam 2022 today
The honorable Supreme Court is all set to hear the plea of appelants and decide whether or not board exams will be cancelled in 2022.
Backstory
The constant demand for the cancellation of the physical exams was seen from the student community. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the physical classes were completely suspended. However, even after the situation has improved, the classes have not commenced in many schools and places. The petition seeks an alternate mode of evaluation instead of offline exams which is in the form of internal assessments. State Boards of Madhya Pradesh and Bihar have already commenced the board examinations for classes 10 and 12.
Due to the pandemic, CBSE decided to cancel the board exams in 2021. However, it also framed a new scheme of holding the examinations whereby there would be two terminal exams in a year. While the term 1 exams have been successfully conducted, the term 2 exams will start soon. Last year, the evaluation of the CBSE students was done based on alternative assessment criteria but this year, students are inclined towards internal assessments.
