SC refuses to reopen CBSE re-evaluation portal: 'Miss the bus, you miss it'

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to direct the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to reopen the online portal for re-evaluation of Class 12 answer sheets, observing that the window was open for all candidates for a specified period and reopening could trigger fresh claims.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, and comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, made the remarks while hearing a plea challenging the manner in which CBSE introduced its On-Screen Marking (OSM) system for evaluation of answer sheets. OSM is a digital grading method in which examiners assess scanned copies of physical answer sheets on a computer, instead of checking paper scripts manually.

The petitioner's counsel sought a week's time to apply for verification, arguing that the CBSE portal had crashed and many students were unable to submit applications. "The website crashed and many students could not apply for on-screen verification," the counsel said.

Rejecting the request, the Chief Justice said, "Why should we direct them to open this window again for you? If you don't use the bus, you miss the bus. The window was open for everyone for a specified period."

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for CBSE, told the court that 1.68 lakh students had successfully applied during the notified window. He also noted that the Delhi High Court had already dismissed a similar challenge.

The plea alleged that the introduction of digital scanning led to several irregularities, including un-scanned pages, illegible scans, and answers or entire pages not being evaluated. The court did not find merit in the plea regarding reopening the portal, but the larger challenge to the OSM system remains pending.