The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday warned schools against detaining admit cards of class 10 and 12 students under any pretext including poor performance in pre-board examinations.

The warning came after the CBSE received several complaints of such incidents in certain schools and also of collecting money in exchange for the hall tickets.      "Several instances of not issuing admit cards by various CBSE affiliated schools on grounds of the performance of students in pre-board tests (conducted by schools internally) have come to the notice of the board.

It has also been noted that some schools are charging fees for release of the admit card," CBSE controller of examination KK Chaudhary said in an advisory to schools. Mentioning the Rule 15 of Examination Bye-Laws, the CBSE said, "In no case shall the heads of affiliated schools detain eligible candidates from appearing at the examination. The practice has been viewed very seriously by the board and is violative of the bye-laws".

The advisory also stated that the board issues admit cards to only those students which have been sponsored by the schools in their final list of candidates submitted to it. "Therefore, their eligibility for the exams has already been confirmed by the school and hence their admit cards cannot be withheld. The schools also cannot charge any fee for issuing admit cards," it said.