CBSE Compartment Exam 2020: SC refuses to stay exams, students asked to file fresh plea

The Supreme Court on August 20 reportedly refused to interfere with the decision of CBSE to conduct compartment exams for Class X and XII students. As per reports, the court, however, allowed the petitioner students to file a fresh petition, challenging the previous decision of the Board, which rejected their representation to cancel the examinations. 

A three-judge bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar was reportedly hearing an application filed by over 800 students aggrieved by the CBSE decision, dismissing their representation to consider scrapping of the exams. While, earlier this month, CBSE issued a notification in response to their representation and stuck by its decision to hold exams, the students moved a fresh application in the apex court seeking cancellation of exams. The bench, however, on Thursday said that the students' petitioners have to separately challenge CBSE’s August 6 decision. 

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The bench, also comprising of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna, reportedly said that a substantive petition needs to filed to assail the August 6 CBSE notification. The Justices further added that the CBSE has already given its reason. The bench gave the student petitioners the ‘liberty’ to file another petition. 

Student petitioners urge SC to take 'suo motu cognisance'

In addition to the petition pending in the Court, nearly 809 students across the nation have also written to the Supreme Court urging the apex body to take 'suo motu cognisance' on the matter of Central Board of Secondary Education or CBSE’s decision on the scheduling of the compartment exams. The students claim that the COVID-19 pandemic still poses a threat to the health of the students who will be appearing for the exams. 

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The National General Secretary of the All India Students' Association, Sandeep Saurav, filed the letter petition in the Supreme Court on behalf of 809 signatories. These offline exams put the lives of the students, parents, teachers and other non-teaching staff at risk while the coronavirus cases continue to rise in the country, the letter says. 

The letter also states that the compartment exams during such situation are 'sheer violation of the Right to Health which is a part of the Right to Life enshrined in the Constitution of India'. It also states that 'the conduct of compartment examination will expose the examinees to great risk and undeniably sacrifice the basic principle of integrity by neglecting equal basis and treatment to all examinees'. 

(Image: PTI) 

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