The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to pass any urgent directions for reopening of CBSE's verification portal for now for the purposes of reevaluation of answer sheets of aggrieved Class XII students.

“Let individual students approach. They will take care,” a vacation bench comprising of Justice Neena Bansal Krishna and Justice Madhu Jain said, adding that the final results of students will get delayed if the prayer is granted.

This was after Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta submitted before the Court that passing of such a direction would affect 17.8 lakh students who appeared in the exams as their results may get delayed and eventually hamper their undergraduate admissions.

The development ensued in a plea filed by the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) alleging “large scale irregularities and deficiencies” under the newly introduced On- Screen Marking (OSM) system by the CBSE.

Mehta said that the a total of 17.80 lakh students appeared in the exam and 98.66 lakh answer sheets were received.

“First step was CBSE opened the window for obtaining scanned copies of answer sheets from 19 May to 25 May. More than 4 lakh applied and total answer sheets 11 lakh plus were demanded. All were given by CBSE. The portal was opened from June 2 to June 6 and it was extended for a day- June 7. 1.67 lakh students applied for reevaluation. 3.8 lakh answer sheets were given to CBSE for reevaluation. This system has operated. Those who wanted to apply applied, got answer sheets. And those who were not satisfied after looking at the answer sheets they requested evaluation and the process is underway,” he said.

SGI added that the plea is based on general assumptions and that if the prayers sought are granted, it would delay the future prospects of 17.8 lakh students as they would have to apply for undergraduate admissions based on their final results.

The counsel appearing for NSUI prayed that the reevaluation portal be extended for a week as many students have still not applied yet.

However, the Court refused to pass such a direction for now and remarked:

“For you it is one week. But the whole process gets delayed by a month. You are saying let me take the step. Then of course 10 steps further are to be taken. It is not the question of step 1 but three other steps.… We are not giving any further directions. We will post this before the roster bench.”

The public interest litigation, filed through NSUI's President Vinod Jhakhar, seeks an independent inquiry, citing technical issues and grievance related failures concerning the OSM system.

NSUI has claimed that the PIL has been filed in the larger public interest on behalf of lakhs of students who appeared in the Class XII examinations conducted by CBSE under the OSM system.

The plea states that the system was introduced as a digital method of scanning and evaluating answer books. However, after result declaration, large numbers of students, parents and teachers across the country raised concerns regarding blurred scans, missing pages, incomplete uploads, mismatch of answer sheets, unexpectedly low marks and lack of a meaningful mechanism for manual verification.

It adds that the figure reflects an “extraordinary level of concern and lack of confidence amongst students regarding the process.”

“When such a large number of students seek scanned copies immediately after result declaration, the matter cannot be treated as a routine post-result formality,” the plea said.

It avers that the existing grievance mechanism is inadequate and that students were left with limited digital remedies and no meaningful process for manual verification or independent rechecking of disputed answer books.

NSUI has said that lack of a robust corrective mechanism heightens the prejudice because the academic calendar continues to move forward while the disputes remain unresolved.

The plea thus seeks reopening of the verification portal for a month and permit manual rechecking and physical verification in disputed cases.

It seeks a direct oversight by the Union Government and calls for an independent inquiry into the alleged irregularities, thereby ensuring that proper safeguards and guidelines are framed for future digital evaluation systems.

The plea has been filed through Advocates Rishav Ranjan, Ajay Chhikara, Omar Hoda, Eesha Bakshi and Shubham Mishra.

Title: NATIONAL STUDENTS' UNION OF INDIA v. UNION OF INDIA & ANR