A plea has been filed in the Delhi High Court on Saturday challenging CBSE notification on mode of assessment of Class X students apprehending that it poses a real danger to the health and well-being of the members of the Result Committee, other teachers and staff members. The plea was filed by NISA Education Regd through advocate Ravi Prakash Gupta.
Advocate Gupta told a single judge bench of Justice Prateek Jalan, that on May 1 respondent-Central Board of Secondary Education issued notification with regard to the mode of assessment of Class X students, in view of the cancellation of the Class X board examinations in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Advocate Gupta said that the implementation of the impugned notification poses a real danger to the health and well-being of the members of the Result Committee, other teachers and staff members.
Advocate Gupta submitted that the impugned notification is unworkable, inasmuch as it requires constitution of a Result Committee in each school, consisting of the Principal and seven teachers. According to Gupta, the members of the Result Committee and other faculty and staff of the school would be required to report to the school and be physically present for the deliberations of the Committee, which is not possible in view of the COVID-19 pandemic situation.
Advocate Rupesh Kumar, counsel appearing for the CBSE, submitted that the process under the impugned notification can be undertaken online and physical meetings are not required. Advocate Kumar also submitted that the CBSE has set in place a mechanism for dealing with the observations/queries of affiliated schools and for resolution of their grievances.
Advocate Kumar also apprised the court that if any school faces difficulty due to the present extraordinary situation, the said school may approach CBSE, and for such school, CBSE may grant extra time for submission of relevant data. CBSE would declare results of candidates of such school as and when data is submitted, he apprised the court.
"I am prima facie of the view that the response of the CBSE to the apprehensions highlighted by Mr. Gupta is reasonable. It has been made clear that the physical presence of the members of the Result Committee and the staff in the school is not required, and the entire process can be conducted online and by video conferencing," the court said.
"In the event any school has difficulty in adopting such a mechanism or any other difficulty in implementation of the notification, paragraph 9 of the note extracted above provides an important safeguard, as any individual school is entitled to approach the CBSE for extra time for submission of the data," the court said. Advocate Gupta submitted before Justice Jalan that the impugned notification is already under consideration before the Division Bench of the Court in another petition.
Justice Jalan said that in view of the fact that the proceedings before the Division Bench concern the very same notice of the CBSE, it would be appropriate to place this petition also before the division bench for further consideration, subject to advocate Kumar's objections. The court listed the matter on August 27 before the division bench. However, the court made clear that, in the meantime, the CBSE will continue to abide by the safeguards and mechanisms which have been placed on record in these proceedings.
