The Supreme Court has refused to direct the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to reopen the re-evaluation portal for Class XII answer sheets, citing that the portal was already open for a specified period. A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana observed that reopening the portal could trigger a large number of fresh claims.
CJI Kant said, “If you don’t use the bus, you miss the bus,” emphasizing that students should have availed the re-evaluation window while it was open.
The Court was hearing a petition challenging the manner in which CBSE introduced the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system for evaluation of answer sheets. The plea alleged that the introduction of digital scanning resulted in several irregularities, including certain pages of answer sheets not being scanned, illegible scans, and answers or pages not being evaluated.
The petitioner claimed that these errors led to arbitrary evaluation and in some cases, non-evaluation of answer sheets. The OSM system was implemented for the first time in 2026, and teachers were not provided formal training before its implementation.
Counsel representing the petitioner sought a week’s extension of the re-evaluation application window, citing that the website crashed and many students could not apply for on-screen verification. However, CJI Kant observed that the students should have availed the re-evaluation window while it was open.
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Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that 1.68 lakh students successfully applied during the notified window, and the Delhi High Court has already dismissed a similar challenge.
Considering these submissions, the Court said there was no reason to intervene in the matter, as reopening the portal could lead to a large number of fresh claims and admissions are already over.
The decision is likely to affect students who were seeking re-evaluation of their answer sheets due to grievances over the evaluation process. The Court’s refusal to direct the reopening of the portal means that these students will not be able to apply for re-evaluation.
They will likely proceed with the current evaluation results, and students will have to accept their scores as final. The decision may be seen as a setback for students who were seeking re-evaluation, but it also highlights the importance of availing opportunities while they are available.
CBSE is set to proceed.
