In Jagan Kumar K. v. State of Kerala & Or’s., The Kerala High Court laid down on 18th August, 2023 that when a student appears for both regular as well as supplementary examinations for 11th and 12th grades, the best marks obtained by the student in both the examinations ought to be considered. The situation went like this:
The petitioner had secured 24 marks in Physics, 19 marks in Chemistry, and 20 marks in Mathematics in the Terminal Evaluation of 11th Grade whereas for the 12th grade Terminal Examinations, he scored 10 marks in Physics, 4 marks in Chemistry, and 9 marks in Mathematics, thereby securing only D Grade, instead of D+ that is required in order to be eligible for higher studies. Thus, he (petitioner) appeared for improvement/supplementary examinations for Grades 11 and 12 altogether. But, as per Clause4 of the Notification No. EX-II-1/14200/HSE/2022 issued by the Secretary, Board of Higher Secondary Examination, states that with respect to Compartmental candidates registering for the 1st year’s papers only, the best scores obtained by the candidate for those papers at the previous 2nd year examinations shall be carried forward and vice versa. In simple words in means that with respect to candidates obtaining the best scores from the 1st years or first attempt’s papers shall only be considered for higher studies. The petitioner secured 22 marks in Physics, 5 marks in Chemistry, and 30 marks in Mathematics in the 1st year Higher Secondary Improvement Examination, and 13 marks in Physics, 20 marks in Chemistry, and 11 marks in Mathematics in the 2nd year improvement examination. The petitioner’s case is that his marks in the improvement examination were only considered, thereby disregarding Clause 4 of the notification which provides for carrying forward of the best grades obtained from previous examinations. The petitioner was aggrieved that he was precluded from obtaining admission to higher studies, due to not getting his best scores in the 11th and 12th grades. He thus sought a direction to be issued to the Secretary for declaring the results of the petitioner combining the best score obtained by him in the first year higher secondary examination held in 2021 and in the second year higher secondary examination held in 2023.
The Single Judge Bench of Justice Basant Balaji relied upon the Apex Court decision The Single Judge Bench of Justice Basant Balaji relied upon the Apex Court decision in Sukriti & Or’s. v. Central Board of Secondary Education & Amr. (2022) wherein the Apex Court had struck down Clause 28 of CBSE Policy which stipulated that marks in the later (improvement) exams will be considered final for the assessment of Class 12 exams for the last academic year, and proceeded to direct the CBSE to provide the option to the candidate to accept the better of the two marks obtained for the final declaration of the results. The justification given by the court is that the very purpose of the supplementary exams is to give them a chance to improve their scores and to obtain a D+ grade or more so that they could join for higher studies. The Court noted that the notification did not envisage a situation wherein a candidate would appear for both the 11th and 12th-grade supplementary examinations.
As said earlier, both, the Apex court, and the court of Kerela tried to express that merely because a student has appeared in both the supplementary examinations, it cannot be said that the best course obtained by the candidate cannot be taken as the guidelines fully relate to persons who appear for the 1st year papers only. It is to be borne in mind that the intention is to help those candidates who could not achieve D+ grades in the regular examinations. Further, the respondent was thereby directed to declare the result of the petitioner combining the best scores obtained by him in the 1st year secondary examinations both in regular and supplementary as well as the 2nd year higher secondary examinations both regular and supplementary, and to issue to him the mark list on consideration of the same and therefore, the plea was thus accepted with the afore directions.
Name: Divya Salgaonkar, 3rs year BLS LLB, College name: VES College of Law, Mumbai intern under legal vidhiya
Plagiarism Report
https://www.livelaw.in/pdf_upload/2157002412920231-487157.pdf
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