The Supreme Court will next hear the petition seeking the cancellation of CBSE's Class XII Board Examinations on Monday. A bench consisting of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari asked the petitioner, Advocate Mamta Sharma, to serve a notice to the respondents that include the Ministry of Education, CBSE and ICSE.
At the same time, the bench reassured the petitioner, asking her to be optimistic. "Be optimistic. There may be a resolution in your favour. Serve the other side first, so that the other side is represented," the bench noted. Sharma is believed to be serving the notice to the respondents today.
The PIL was filed on May 27. It sought the CBSE to cancel the examinations and instead come up with an objective method to declare the results. On April 14, the CBSE had postponed the Class XII examinations and said that it will take a further decision on June 1, analysing the COVID situation in the country. However, on Sunday, the CBSE had hinted that it may not cancel the examination but will devise a method to hold exams for shorter durations.
The plea noted that the decision to conduct the examinations are inhuman. It also noted that the delay in declaring the results will affect college admissions. "As per the UNESCO statistics for the year 2018 around 7.3 lakh students had opted for foreign universities to pursue higher education. Delay in declaration of result will ultimately hamper one semester of the aspiring students as admission cannot be confirmed until the result of Class XII is declared," it noted.
