The Delhi High Court (HC) today Wednesday, February 21 allowed a student to appear in the Class XII Board examination on Thursday, subject to the satisfaction of the regional officer that she has rectified the deficiencies pointed out by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in her application form. According to the petition, the student's application form was cancelled by the CBSE due to non-submission of the domicile certificate, as stated in a report by PTI.

Giving his verdict, Justice C Hari Shankar said, “… this court has held the petitioner… eligible to appear in her class XII CBSE board examination, scheduled to be held tomorrow, that is, on February 22, 2024, subject to her satisfying the Regional Officer, Delhi East Region (ROD) of the deficiencies in her application form pointed out in the email dated January 15, 2024, addressed by the CBSE to the petitioner having been satisfied/rectified. She has been directed to approach the ROD today itself so that the ROD would make steps to ensure that she appears in the examination tomorrow."

The counsel for the CBSE said the ROD will be informed about the court's decision. “The ROD would act on a copy of this order and not wait for the signed judgment to be made available,” the judge said.

The petitioner student, represented by advocates Shahil Rao and Sahil Mongia, challenged the February 15, 2024 email of the CBSE by which her candidature was cancelled due to non-submission of the domicile certificate. The plea said the girl had submitted the examination form meant for private students for senior secondary (Class XII) examinations for 2024 and an admit card was also issued to her.

However, later she received an email from the CBSE restraining her from sitting in the examination as her application had been rejected. “The petitioner has a valid domicile certificate which had been issued by the competent authority on September 23, 2023. Furthermore, it is most respectfully submitted that at the time of filling out the application form for the aforesaid examination, the petitioner had submitted the application form for the domicile certificate and consequently admit card has been already issued to the petitioner on February 5, 2024,” the plea said.

It added that cancellation of her application would cause her irreparable damage as she would lose a year, PTI reported.