Class X Student Mistakenly Marked Zero In Board Exams, Punjab & Haryana High Court Imposes 30k Costs On School For Negligence

Riya v. State of Haryana and others

A school in Haryana has been fined Rs. 30,000 by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana for giving a Class X board student zero points in error. Due to an error caused by the school’s carelessness, two pupils with the same name accidentally received different grades. As a result, the impacted student was unable to show up for their Class XII board exams and ended up receiving a zero on the 2021 exam.

New Marksheet To Be Issued

Justice Vikas Behal underlined the consequences of the school’s blunder in ordering the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to provide a new mark sheet for the affected student. According to Justice Behal, “it would be relevant to note that on account of the mistake made by the school not only the petitioner has suffered but even the respondent-Board had to suffer litigation expenses in the present case without there being any fault on their account.”

In instructing the CBSE to provide a new mark sheet for the student, Justice Vikas Behal emphasized that the school’s error caused not only harm to the petitioner but also resulted in unnecessary litigation expenses for the respondent board. This occurred despite the Board having no fault in the matter.

Furthermore, it was noted that the school’s “casual approach” was evident because, after receiving notice, they chose not to assist the Court. This lack of participation was further demonstrated by their inability to refute the claims made in the petition.

The petitioner made it clear that no compensation was being sought, thus the Court punished the institution for its incompetence by fining Rs. 30,000 and ordering it to pay the money to the Board.

A student made a plea during the court proceedings, asking for her exam results to be corrected and for a corrected detailed marks certificate to be issued. The petitioner emphasised that although she took the tests, she was given a zero, while another student with the same name who had left the school was given credited with her marks instead.

The board told the petitioner that the school hadn’t uploaded the updated grades on the internet portal by the deadline, even though she had asked them to be corrected. The school continued to maintain that the application had been sent to the board in spite of the petitioner’s several appeals, but they never followed through.

Considering the submissions, the Court observed that, “the petitioner is stated to have cleared her 11th class examination and could not give 12th class examination on account of the mistake of the school and in case the necessary directions are not passed in favour of the petitioner, then her future would be jeopardized.”

The Court overturned the Board’s decision to reject the petitioner’s request for mark correction in light of the above-mentioned circumstances. Rather, the Court directed the Board to provide the petitioner with an updated outcome.

Adv.Khanak Sharma